Pinellas County baseball produced no state champion in 2026, but the season had its share of highlights: a longtime coach’s final season, two career win milestones and a group of teams that reached the region finals before falling short.
Osceola sends Futch out with 24 wins
Stefan Futch’s final season at Osceola ended one round short of state, but not quietly.
The Warriors went 24-8 and pushed Jesuit to a third game in the Class 4A region final. Osceola won the opener 2-1 — the only postseason game the Tigers lost all spring — before falling 14-1 and 6-2 as Jesuit advanced. The Tigers went on to win the state title, beating Bishop Moore 9-0 in the final.
Senior Richard Stegbauer carried the offense, hitting .446 with a .563 on-base percentage, three homers and 18 stolen bases. Sophomore Leo Alvarado anchored the staff, winning 10 games with a 0.80 ERA.
Futch announced before the season that he would step down after this year, though he plans to keep teaching at the school. For more than two decades, first at St. Petersburg and then at Osceola, he built his teams on pitching and defense — and the deep run made a fitting last chapter.
Calvary Christian’s run ends a series short
Calvary Christian came up one win short of the state tournament.
The Warriors went 29-3 and won the Class 3A, District 10 title before falling to North Broward Prep in a best-of-three regional final. Calvary dropped the opener 3-0, forced a third game with a 6-5 win, then lost the decider 8-7 to the Eagles — a team it had swept in the region semifinals a year earlier.
Junior Jase Traina led the offense, hitting .512 with a .580 on-base percentage and 15 steals. On the mound, sophomore Luke Straw posted a 0.63 ERA and senior Caden Schlotterbeck went 8-2 with 70 strikeouts.
District title, then a regional exit for Northside
A district crown was the high point of Northside Christian’s season.
The Mustangs went 14-16 but won the Class 1A, District 10 title, shutting out all three district-tournament opponents by a combined 30-0. Their run ended in a best-of-three regional series against Fort Myers’ Canterbury, which took both games, 4-2 and 3-0.
Preston Hamelynck led the offense at .361, and Danilo Soto added three home runs with a .479 on-base percentage. Yordan Rosendo swiped a team-high 10 bases, while Donovan Fox anchored the staff with a 1.30 ERA.
Eagles take conference crown, bow out in regionals
East Lake had plenty to show for its season — a Pinellas County Athletic Conference title and a 23-6 record.
The Eagles’ run stopped in the regional semifinal round, where they split the first two games of a best-of-three 6A series with Land O’ Lakes before dropping the decider 8-4.
Junior Camden Boehm carried the load both ways, leading the team with a .360 average and a 0.36 ERA while striking out 66. Nic Genna paced the staff with eight wins, and senior Eli Millian posted a team-high .478 on-base percentage.
Quick hits
300 for Moravick, 100 for Layner
Seminole’s Adam Moravick won the 300th game of his career, a total built over 10 seasons at Indian Rocks Christian and six more at Seminole, where he took over in 2020. Largo’s Taylor Layner picked up his 100th win, a program record for the Packers. Layner’s young team, built largely on underclassmen, went 16-8 and pushed county power East Lake in the first round of districts.
Stat leaders
Here are the season’s statistical standouts in baseball. The list was compiled from MaxPreps’ state leaderboard.
Hitting
Batting average
.672 - Gabriel Blaxberg, Canterbury
.512 - Jase Traina, Calvary Christian
.500 - Jeffrey Crain, Admiral Farragut
.492 - Sebbie Silva, Palm Harbor University
.486 - Micah Murton, Calvary Christian
RBIs
33 - Gabriel Blaxberg, Canterbury
31 - Cooper Riley, CCC
28 - Tripp Fecarotta, Calvary Christian
26 - Matthew Bowser, Calvary Christian
26 - Noah Ritchie, Seminole
Home runs
6 - Gabriel Blaxberg, Canterbury
4 - Cooper Riley, CCC
Pitching
ERA
0.36 - Camden Boehm, East Lake
0.63 - Luke Straw, Calvary Christian
0.80 - Leo Alvarado, Osceola
0.83 - Charlie Tatelbaum, Northeast
1.12 - Denton Mycroft Newkirk, Dunedin
Strikeouts
86 - Leo Alvarado, Osceola
73 - Gabriel Blaxberg, Canterbury
70 - Caden Schlotterbeck, Calvary Christian
66 - Camden Boehm, East Lake
61 - Carlos Marroquin, St. Petersburg Catholic