The Buchholz baseball program has waited a long time to go to the final four.
They’ll have to wait at least one more day.
Monday’s scheduled FHSAA Class 6A-Region 1 Final against visiting Hagerty (Oviedo) was postponed due to weather.
The No. 3 seed Huskies and the top seeded Bobcats, who never threw the first pitch, will try again at 4 p.m. on Tuesday at Bobcat Park.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t play but we were ready to go,” said Buchholz coach Ron Brooks. “We’ll play tomorrow and it’s no different tomorrow than it was today. Go out and play good baseball.”
Buchholz (22-8) had slated sophomore Aidan Kastensmidt to start.
Brooks said that won’t change.
“Everything will be the same, and we’ll throw the same lineup out there that we were going to have tonight” Brooks said. “We’ve seen their lineup so not a lot of surprises with that either, so go play ball.”
Kastensmidt (4-2), who has a 0.78 earned run average, helped lead the Bobcats to a 9-0 win against No. 8 seed New Smyrna Beach in the regional quarterfinals by striking out 10 batters. He also had the game-winning RBI.
Brayden Toro (3-2, 1.41 ERA) was scheduled to pitch on Monday night for the Huskies (20-8).
Hagerty defeated Chiles (Tallahassee), 4-0, in the regional semifinals but that game was pushed back to Saturday due to a tornado in the area.
Now they’ll have to take a second trip back to Gainesville on Tuesday.
“Whoever handles this kind of situation the best (is the key),” Brooks said. “They’re on a bus for two days, we’ve been waiting around one day longer than they have, everybody’s got something kind of in their favor, so we’ll see who plays the best.”
Buchholz is in the regional final for the second consecutive year and is within one win of its first final four in program history.
Buchholz lost at home to Winter Springs in last year’s regional final.
“Yeah, we don’t want that to happen again, we’re not going to let it happen again,” said second baseman Blake Brewer, who scored a run and drove in a run in a 3-2 win against Pace on Friday in the regional semifinals. “Anybody who comes out, we’re confident, this is our field. “They’re in our way.”
Brewer said the opportunity to be the first Buchholz team to make it to a final four would be “huge.”
“That’s our goal every fall,” he said. “Every time we start, we want to win a state championship, so that would be huge.”
The winner advances to the Class 6A state semifinals on Thursday at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers.
Tuesday’s Hagerty-Buchholz game will be broadcast online (audio only) at Mainstreet Daily News with Marty Pallman (Play-by-play) and Hank Rone (Color) calling the action.
Coverage begins at 3:50 p.m. (weather permitting).