Back in 2019, I brought you the wisdom of Sarasota High baseball coach Clyde Metcalf, the master of little details. Metcalf knows more about the game than my brain could ever comprehend. On that day in 2019, in a game against Venice High, the Sailors fell behind early and struggled against good pitching, only to make Metcalf s adjustments and come back to win 3-1.
Metcalf was in similar form on Tuesday night in the Sailors home game against Lakewood Ranch High. Sarasota senior pitcher Conner Whittaker was brilliant most of the night, but a mistake to Lakewood Ranch s Ryan Combs in the second inning resulted in a ball flying over the left field fence. It gave the Mustangs a 1-0 lead. The game stayed that way for a while. In fact, the Sailors were so stagnant on offense that they had no hits through three innings. They kept popping harmless flies to the Lakewood Ranch outfielders.