Small Palmetto Ridge baseball roster making big FHSAA playoff waves
The Bears grabbed upset playoff wins over Gulf Coast and Mariner. Now, they're two wins away from an FHSAA regional final.
A high school baseball team sporting a limited roster of 14 players doesn't suggest a postseason breakthrough is on the horizon. Neither did a regular season that hovered around the middle of the local pack. But the Palmetto Ridge baseball team has flipped those narratives in a matter of weeks.
Riding another complete-game performance from Greg Carrasco — his second in as many high-stakes games — the Class 5A-Region 3 sixth-seeded Bears outlasted No. 3 seed Mariner 5-4 for the program's first FHSAA regional playoff win Friday, April 24, putting them two wins away from a regional final that once seemed unrealistic. "We believe no matter whether you're the six hitter, you're the nine hitter, whatever it is," Palmetto Ridge coach Connor Perry said.
"We're believing in you. It's just special, man. It's special to watch these kids come out.
My biggest goal in a program is to take a group of kids and allow them to become a team. Wins will come, but allowing them to become a team, we're a team right now. We're playing some good baseball at a high level, and hopefully we can keep it going.
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