By: J. Daniel Pearson
A message was sent. Osceola County dominance in high school baseball still runs through the Harmony Longhorns.
Two weeks after winning their fourth straight OBC championship with an 8-1 win over the rival Bulldogs, the Longhorns knocked off St. Cloud again on Friday night, 8-2, to win their third straight District baseball championship.
The significance was not lost on Harmony coach Heath Williams, who saw massive talent losses to graduation in both 2024 and 2025. “I really didn’t know what to expect this year, we only returned two senior starters and early in the season we seemed to be lost,” the veteran coach said. “But the lights seemed to come on in the middle of the season and we started playing for each other and to win. These kids quit worry about stats and playing time and instead focused on their teammates and doing the little things needed to win.”
Friday’s game was a prime example of that. On a night when starter Trevin Bean did not have his best stuff, he gutted through three innings of pitching scoreless ball –getting out of jams with runners in scoring position in both the first and third.
“He didn’t have his good stuff tonight but battled to shorten the game,” Williams said. “It was a performance we really needed and he came through.”
With the scored tied 0-0 in the top of the fourth, the tide would swing to Harmony’s favor as they scored six unearned runs with two outs.
The Longhorns leadoff hitter Sebastian Tabarres reached first on a throwing error after hitting routine ground ball to second. Catcher Ayden Fayne singled but the next two hitters were retired, which should have ended the inning.
Instead, Jose Scrofani walked to load the bases and pinch hitter Ashton Fayne delivered a two-run double. Scrofani would score on a wild pitch and after a walk and single, Angel Medina slammed a two-run double to the gap and Harmony led, 6-0.
It would be all the runs Harmony would need and they would come at the frustration of St. Cloud and its head coach David Blackmore. “No excuses, you have to make the routine plays and we didn’t do that tonight,” St. Cloud coach David Blackmore said. “Give Harmony credit, they came up with the big hits after error and after the inning should have been over, but I can’t help but feel we gave this game away tonight.”
St. Cloud managed to cut the gap to 6-2 in the bottom of the fourth on a leadoff double by Sam Quijada and a line drive home run over the right center field fence by Jose Alvarado.
The Dogs would have ample opportunity to get back in the game in the next two innings.
With runners on first and second and just one out, Jayden Luciano hit a shot down the third baseline that was ruled just foul. Relief pitcher Jaxson Kraubetz then strike out Luciano and Quijada to end the inning.
In the sixth, St. Cloud would load the bases on Kraubetz with just one out, but reliever Raul Romay came on to strike out Gage Rutledge and Genaro Santana to end that threat.
“Despite the bad fourth inning, we definitely had our chances2 to get back into the game,” Blackmore said. “But we kept the bats on our shoulders though and you simply can’t do that.”
Romay would finish the game retiring five of the six batters he faced to pick up the save.
As 7A, District 9 champions, Harmony (15-10) automatically qualifies for regional competition and they most likely will host a quarterfinal home game next Friday night. St. Cloud (18-6) was ranked high enough and should receive an at-large bid. Ironically, if the rankings do not change, the two teams could face each other again in that game. The official regional schedule will be announced on Monday.
Although a fourth game—the third in three weeks – was a possibility, neither coach was worried about it. “We’re happy to win the district title and hopefully get a home playoff game next Friday,” Williams said. “But it doesn’t matter who it is against.” Blackmore added “We need to wait before it’s official but getting into regionals is the biggest thing. It doesn’t matter whether it’s against Harmony again having to play somewhere else. We will regroup and get ready for next week,”
In a slightly altered format this season, regional quarterfinals will be a one game playoff. Starting with the regional semifinals, a best of three format will take over.”
