Chipola Indians take fourth straight state baseball title

You can now make it 4-for-4.

The Chipola Indians gave their school its fourth straight state title of the calender year, joining the men’s and women’s basketball teams, as well as the softball team, in being best in the state for the 2006-07 sports year.

The Indians routed Central Florida 12-2 Tuesday in Winter Haven to finish a perfect postseason and advance to the national tournament May 26 in Grand Junction, CO.

It’s the second state championship for Chipola in school history and the first for coach Jeff Johnson in his 11-year tenure.

The coach had taken the Indians to the final game of the state tournament three times before finally breaking through Tuesday.

Drew Parker started on the mound for Chipola and pitched eight strong innings for the win, but it was the Indians’ offensive attack that overwhelmed Central Florida.

Chipola got four runs in the first, two in the second, two in the fifth and added three more in the seventh to take a 10-run lead.

Tom Hatcher hit a two-run single in the first inning to start things off and Einar Atencio and David Thoms added a bunt single and an RBI groundout to make it 4-0.

Jesus Barroso picked up an RBI single in the second inning and an RBI groundout by Brandon Street to score Logan Pierce put the Indians up 6-0.

Central Florida got its only runs in the top of the fourth on a passed ball and an RBI groundout to trim the deficit to four runs.

But Chipola responded with two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to push the lead to 8-2 and Central Florida never threatened the rest of the game.