FSU commits help Mustangs baseball have dominant season

On the Lakewood Ranch High baseball team, three is not a crowd. It is company.

Good company.

The Mustangs, coached by Ryan Kennedy, are 17-3 as of April 19. That is a better mark than they held at this point last season, when they finished 20-8-1 and reached the regional semifinals. A baseball team requires a deep depth of talent to be successful, but this season, a trio of Mustangs — senior Grant McCray and juniors Colin Apgar and Richie Morales — have made large contributions. They also have a unique bond: all three are committed to play for Florida State, historically one of the most successful programs in the NCAA.

The trio have played together on various teams since they were 8 years old on the Sarasota Sting travel team. McCray was on Lakewood Ranch’s team last season, but Apgar and Morales transferred over the summer from Braden River High. For all three, wearing the garnet and gold Seminoles uniform will be the culmination of lifelong goal-setting and goal-achieving.

“It was a childhood dream,” Morales said. “It’s in-state, not far from home. It is an opportunity to progress my career.”

Kennedy said he has never before had three players on one team committed to an elite four-year program like Florida State. The Seminoles do not currently have any players from Manatee or Sarasota county schools, although Sarasota High alumnus Dylan Busby played for them from 2015-2017 before being drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates organization.

All three players fill different needs for Lakewood Ranch.

Morales is a leadoff-hitting shortstop (.415 average) with dynamic defensive range and speed. He leads the team with 12 stolen bases. Apgar pitches and plays right field. He’s been successful in both, holding a 1.28 ERA over 35.1 innings and hitting for a .298 average with 15 RBIs. McCray, a center fielder who hits in the team’s three-hole, is hitting .483 with five doubles, six triples, three home runs and 27 RBIs.

McCray’s play might render his commitment to FSU moot. There is a chance McCray will be selected in June’s MLB first-year player draft, as former Lakewood Ranch pitcher Pablo Garabitos was last summer. If that happens, McCray will have a choice to make.

Garabitos, who was committed to USF, chose to sign with the Milwaukee Brewers organization. Apgar and Morales needled McCray when discussing the possibility of leaving them behind. Apgar put his arm around his teammate before McCray laughed and shook him off. McCray is not thinking about that right now, or about FSU. His team is in the thick of its season, and he is all-in.

“I am playing every game like it is my last,” McCray said.

The Mustangs have four games left before the district tournament, which they won last season, 5-1 against Sarasota High. But thanks to Florida High School Athletic Association rules, both teams advanced to the regional tournament, and Sarasota got revenge in the regional semifinals, beating Lakewood Ranch 7-2. The Mustangs have seen their season end in the regional tournament four consecutive seasons, twice to the Sailors and twice to East Lake High.

Kennedy believes this team can get over that hurdle.

“First game of the season, we went down to Barron Collier High,” Kennedy said. “They got ahead of us 3-0. We easily could have put our heads down in the sand but we fought back. (The Mustangs won 8-5.) That is the type of personality (the players) have. They are never out of a game. Even if we are down 6-0 or something like that, we are going to chip away at it. They believe in each other. If one guy doesn’t do it, the next guy will. They pick each other up. That is the fun part that I have seen the entire year.”

Outside of the FSU trio, senior pitcher/infielder Matt Gelorme, who holds a 0.56 ERA over 37.2 innings, and senior infielder George Davis, who is hitting .438 with 15 RBIs, have been leading the charge. For this team to make it to the state tournament, its players know what they have to do.

“We need to get hype,” Morales said.

“Yeah,” McCray said. “We need to play with our hair on fire. We need to play with all our hearts.”

In a few weeks, the Mustangs will get to prove they can do just that.