Top-seeded North Marion baseball ends Hernando's post-season run

CITRA, FLORIDA – Let’s make one thing abundantly clear before we dive into the details of North Marion’s 7-2 victory against Hernando in the Class 4A-Region 2 baseball tournament on Friday night.

The Colts never have been and never will be just a one-man show.

Senior pitcher Hunter Jones and senior first baseman Jake Tompkins made that obvious – at least momentarily – as they moved into the spotlight to lead the top-seeded Colts (24-5) into a showdown in the Regional championship game Tuesday against Orlando Bishop Moore.

Jones gave the Colts six solid innings and Tompkins hit North Marion’s 26th home run of the season on a night when at least part of an overflow crowd that filled the bleachers and spilled down both baselines likely was there to catch a glimpse of senior shortstop Cooper Jones (no relation to the pitcher).

Cooper Jones came into the game leading Florida high school players with 12 home runs, which also ranked him No. 18 in the nation. But, by his lofty standards, Cooper Jones had a relatively quiet night. He was hit by a pitch in the first inning, grounded out to first base in the second and drew an intentional walk in the fourth.

“We’ve played good ball as a team all season,’’ North Marion coach Dale Hall said. “A lot of different guys have contributed.’’

Hunter Jones did the same thing he’s been doing all season as he ran his record to 10-0 while limiting the Leopards to five hits.

“We knew we would get some quality innings from Hunter,’’ Hall said. “He probably could have gone the distance, but he was getting close to his pitch count. So, we brought in Karson Smith in the seventh because we also have a lot of confidence in him.’’

But it was probably Tompkins’ home run in the third inning that – more than anything else – decided the game. With runners on first and second, Tompkins collected his fourth home run of the season on a shot that went far beyond the rightfield wall.

“I’ll tell you right now that I won’t be at all surprised if whoever wins the game between North Marion and Bishop Moore wins the state championship,’’ Hernando coach Tim Sims said. “We knew coming up here that we would have our hands full. Dale Hall is a great coach and North Marion always is going to have a good team.’’

The Leopards, who had won 15 of their last 16 games before facing North Marion, ended their season with a 23-5 record. Their only real highlight of the game came when Patrick Green homered in the sixth inning.

“When you get two teams like North Marion and Hernando together, it’s going to come down to who throws more strikes and who fields the ball better. They did that better than we did.’’

Sims grew emotional as he talked about a 12-player senior class that handed him the 500^th win of his career in the district playoffs.

“Unless you’re that one team still standing at the end, it’s going to be disappointing,’’ Sims said. “But we had a great year and I love all of these kids. No matter what they end up doing in the real world, they will always be a part of the history and tradition of Hernando baseball.’’