Harmony Longhorns, St. Cloud Bulldogs Top Seeds For This Week's OBC Baseball Tournament

By: J. Daniel Pearson

Harmony and St. Cloud will be the top two seeds when the 2025 Orange Belt Conference Baseball Tournament begins tonight with four first round games. As the 1-2 seeds, both the Longhorns and Bulldogs will host first and second round games on Tuesday. Winners of the semifinals will meet at Tohopekaliga on Friday (7 p.m.) for the championship.

Seeding for the tournament was based on the official FHSAA state rankings that came out on Monday (3/24), with the Longhorns (14-6) securing the top spot, followed by St. Cloud (12-5).

In Monday’s quarterfinals at Harmony, #4 Celebration (8-6) will face #5 Osceola (3-9) at 4:30 p.m.; with Liberty (0-5) playing #1 Harmony at 7 p.m. Over at St. Cloud, #3 Gateway (9-7) faces #6 Tohopekaliga (6-8) at 4:30 p.m.; with host St. Cloud playing #7 Poinciana (4-4) in the 7 p.m. nightcap.

Semifinal and consolation games are at 4:30 and 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Although top-seeded, Harmony enters the tournament in a bit of a slump. After a season-opening 5-3 loss at Rockledge, the Longhorns ripped off 12 consecutive wins. But after a tough 8-7 loss at St. Cloud on Mar. 13, Harmony dropped five of its next six before righting the ship on Friday night with an impressive 7-3 win over Rockledge in the return match-up.

It should be pointed out that the “slump” came during a tougher point in Harmony’s schedule and included four (five) one-run losses.

Conversely, St. Cloud comes in on a bit of a roll. David Blackmore’s team has won six of their last seven – including big 13-0 a win over Davenport last week. St. Cloud is 5-1 against county competition this season, including that win over Harmony a few weeks ago.

“We’re playing pretty good baseball right now,” St. Cloud coach David Blackmore said. “Three games in five days is always going to be a challenge, but I like the way our pitching rotation is set up. Staying focused and taking it one game at time will be the key for us.”

After losses to Poinciana (7-6, 9 innings) and Lake Nona (8-2), a much-improved Gateway team defeated Liberty on Friday, 16-6, and enters the OBC Tournament with their highest seed in a number of years. Celebration was (2-2, 3-1) in NERP Tournament in Winter Haven against teams from Pennsylvania and Illinois and could also challenge for the OBC crown.

Still, the top two seeds will be strong favorites to make the finals. Harmony is led offensively by senior Samuel Castillo (.387, 22 RBI) and junior Angel Medina (.356,22 Runs). Castillo leads the team with 14 extra base hits and six home runs; while Medina has added five. Alexavier LeBron (3-0, 3.32 ERA) and Ismeal Rivera (2-1, 2.23 ERA) have been the Longhorns top pitchers. LeBron threw a no-hitter against St. Cloud in last year’s OBC finals; while Rivera has struck out 43 in 25 innings pitched this year.

St. Cloud is good-hitting team. Led by sophomore Sammy Echeverry (.441, 17 RBI, 7 extra-base hits), the Bulldogs have six starters hitting over .300 heading into the OBC Tournament. Those players include Drew Kelly (.366) and Josh Bejarno (.333). Top hurlers for the Bulldogs include Sean Gallagher and Logan King.

Following the OBC Tournament, one week of regular season play remains before the start of District playoff competition on April 14.

2025 Orange Belt Conference

Baseball Tournament Schedule