PrepZone Baseball

The Estero Wildcats came so close.

FORT MYERS — The ball hung in the air for what seemed like an eternity.

Estero has an opportunity to win its first state title today. Participate in a live chat with PrepZone staff beginning at 3 p.m. from JetBlue Park.

Estero baseball advances to the state title game. The Wildcats will meet the winner of tonight's Ponte Vedra-Tampa Jesuit game.

Eleven regional playoff appearances in 13 seasons.

FORT MYERS — In the end, the odds were just too long for the Bishop Verot baseball team.

Not even a trip to the emergency room could keep Jason Moore from his Estero teammates.

Estero’s Zeke Pietryzk wasn’t even one of the Wildcats top pitchers as a sophomore. The lefty wasn’t even on most college recruiters’ radars.

Nate Leedy hoped to earn a Division I scholarship to play college football. However, when that didn’t work out, he might have found something better.

For the next eight days, Lee County will be the high school baseball capital of the state.

After waiting 15 years for this moment, a 12-day layoff isn’t going to deter Frank Turco.

SOUTHWEST RANCHES — Gulf Coast couldn’t derail Archbishop McCarthy’s bid for a fourth straight state championship as the Sharks fell to the Mavericks 4-2 on Friday night in a Class 6A regionalb aseball final.

Some previous Estero High baseball teams have had far more size, strength, speed and depth than the 2013 edition, but those squads never had what this year’s surprising Wildcats somehow managed to accomplish Friday night.

Twelve months ago Gulf Coast baseball players were worried about final exams, not the playoffs, after the Sharks endured the program’s worst season.