Brothers Bobby and Sean Sparling drove in three of the Pirate runs and Bobby pitched four innings of one-hit ball in Matanzas' 9-2 win over Pedro Menendez last week at Pirate Field.

Bobby Sparling, the older of the two brothers, struck out six and issued one walk over the four innings of shut-out ball and left the game as a pitcher with a comfortable 8-0 lead.

Matanzas also got hitting from freshman Sean Sparling, who doubled home a run in the three-run third and singled home his brother in the first. Ryan Thomas went two-for-four and drove in two runs with a fourth-inning single. Pinch hitter Jack Taylor doubled and scored on a passed ball for Matanzas’s last run in the fifth inning.

J.J. Sousa scored two runs and singled and Owen Cuthbert singled and scored a run after drawing a walk in the second. Cuthbert also pitched the last three innings and gave up single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

The Pirates, who had been struggling as a group at the plate recently, knocked out 10 hits and drew three base on balls off three Falcon pitchers. 

Matanzas 8, Palatka 4: Early rallies paid off for the second game in a row as the Pirates ripped Palatka for 11 hits Friday night at Pirate Field to back a combined six-hitter by Eric Libby and Kyle Fermin.

The first four Matanzas hitters reached base and three scored in the bottom of the first on singles by Owen Cuthbert and J.J. Sousa, followed by a walk to Bobby Sparling and a run-scoring single by Jason Guilbe. Will Towles’ two-out single drove in two more runs to give Matanzas a 3-0 lead.

Back-to-back doubles in the fourth by Sousa and Sparling scored one run and Sparling’s younger brother, Sean, also had an RBI single to up the Matanzas lead to 6-2. The Pirates got their final two runs in the sixth on an infield single by pinch hitter Sal Piazza and Sean Sparling's second run-scoring single of the contest. 

Oviedo 4, FPC 1: Brock Underberg went the distance and gave up seven hits as teammates couldn’t produce runs for him in the non-district clash Friday night at Bulldog Field.

Oviedo scored twice on him in the top of the first and one more in the third, but Underberg checked the Lions for three scoreless innings afterward until they scored again in the top of the seventh. FPC managed only four hits, half of them by Trevor Meaney. The Bulldogs scored in their half of the third when D’Emiliano Whiters lofted a sacrifice fly to score Ashton Neuman.

GIRLS TENNIS

Four Flagler Palm Coast girls players reached the District 1-4A singles finals in tennis Thursday and the Lady Bulldogs scored enough points to advance to the regional phase of the FHSAA state tournament this week.

Veronika Goncharova, Klara Acierno, Nina Walls and A.J. Walters were all finalists in the tournament keeping pace with top ranked Gainesville Buchholz in the district finals. Although all four lost in the finals against Bobcat players, the FPC girls scored enough to get the runner-up spot in team points. Matches were played Wednesday and Thursday last week on the home courts at FPC.

The singles semi-finals produced some drama for two FPC girls as Acierno and Walls both fought back after falling behind in third set tiebreakers to win their matches and advance to the championship round.

They were slated to play District 2 champion Lake Mary in the Region 1 semi-finals Tuesday and a win there would put them in the Region 1 finals against either Buchholz or Spruce Creek, the Dsitrict 2 runnerup on Thursday. The higher seeded team among the winners hosts the match Thursday. The Class 4A state tournament is in Seminole County May 2 through 4 at Red Bug Lake Park and Sylvan Lake Park.

In the boys District 1-4A tournament, FPC’s team finished one point out of second place in a battle with Gainesville Buchholz in a tournament dominated by the top ranked Class 4A team in the state, Fleming Island. FPC had most of their players eliminated in semi finals play, but the No. 2 doubles team of Robbie Carrascosa and Wanyea Barbel was able to make it to the finals.

-- Andy Mikula