Fleming Island- With the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 7th inning, Fleming Island’s Aiden Mastantuno (FSU Commit) stepped up to bat. Creekside’s standout pitcher Colby Frieda reached the pitch count limit after six and a half innings, and in stepped Caleb Meisterhans to pitch with the bases loaded. A daunting task for Meisterhans resulted in a drive deep to center field by Mastantuno, scoring Gavin Billingsley for the 3-2 walk-off victory.
Aiden Mastantuno sends Fleming Island to the Regional Finals! Eagles defeat Creekside 3-2!! Wow! pic.twitter.com/j4RI7OFcQy
— Duval Sports ™️ (@DuvalSports) May 13, 2021
Celebrations erupted from the Fleming Island dugout and crowd, as the Golden Eagles completed the last inning comeback. Fleming saw an early lead evaporate thanks to the nice hitting of several of their players. Creekside took a 2-1 lead when Gavin Grant raced home on a pop fly in the top of the 5th.
Grant got on base on a beautiful bunt, and Brandon Dalhman advanced to third. Dalhman smashed a double earlier in the order to get things cracking literally for Creekside. Dalhman would eventually score for Creekside to tie the game at 1-1 when Austin Rusomaroff grounded out.
Fleming Island seemed to control the tempo of the game before this point. Georgia Tech commit Cody Carwile out dueled his Kentucky commit counterpart Colby Frieda of Creekside by pitching all 7 innings and striking out six. Frieda settled down eventually, but got into trouble early in the game giving up hits and walking batters. His early struggles would haunt him in the end.
Fleming Island’s Angelo Scionti would dive in for the first score of the game off a single by Aiden Mastantuno. The Trinity College commit Scionti said after the game, ” I was just trying to pick up Cody, we’re always trying to do our best for him because he’s always doing his best for us”. In the end, it took everyone’s best in a highly contested 6A playoff game for Fleming Island to advance to the next round.
Fleming Island will meet the winner of Tallahassee Chiles and Pace who play Thursday. The Regional Final contest will be on Saturday.
