Martin County completed one of the most epic comebacks in high school baseball history to advance to the semifinal round of the playoffs in Florida. The Tigers never stopped believing.
They came back from eight runs down with just six outs left.
Martin County was losing to Lake Minneola in the Florida state playoffs.
Martin County High School is located in the Port St. Lucie suburb of Stuart, Florida. It enrolls approximately 2,100 students in Grades 9-12. Lake Minneola High School is located in the Orlando suburb of Minneola, Florida. It enrolls approximately 2,200 students in Grades 9-12.
The former traveled to the latter for Game 3 of the FHSAA 6A Regional Finals over the weekend.
Lake Minneola, the No. 2 seed, advanced to the quarterfinals because of a controversial umpiring decision during the second round and took Game 1 of the three-game series. Martin County, the No. 5 seed kept its season alive with a dominant win in Game 2. That set up a winner-take-all rubber match.
The Hawks jumped out to a commanding eight-run lead through the first five innings and had the bases loaded with only one out in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Tigers trailed 9-1 with their backs up against the 10-run mercy rule. Their season would’ve been over if two more runs crossed the plate for the home team. They would not have played the sixth or seventh innings because of the mercy rule.
And then the script completely flipped.
Martin County, on its fifth or sixth pitcher of the game, got out of the bases-loaded jam in the bottom of the fifth inning to force another frame. Its bats suddenly caught fire.
A high school baseball comeback for the ages.
The Tigers took advantage of a couple of walks and recorded a few base knocks to trim their deficit to 9-5 in the top of the sixth inning. They kept their foot on the gas and loaded the bases with only one out.
Junior Wyatt Parks stepped up to the plate with ducks on the pond for Martin County. He mashed a ball to the opposite field for a game-tying grand slam. Just like that, a team that was down to its last two outs was right back in it. The dugout went bananas.
“The whole atmosphere and everything just completely changed,” head coach Brett Hawkins told the TC Palm.
However, the job was not done! Lake Minneola took back the lead in the bottom half of the sixth inning on a solo blast. The Hawks took a 10-9 lead into the top of the seventh and final inning. They needed to record just three outs to advance to the state semifinals but the Tigers had other plans.
Martin County took back the lead in the top of the seventh inning and did not record a single out before it loaded the bases for the second time in two innings. Zane Moody crushed another grand slam on the very first pitch of the next at-bat. Parks followed it up with his second no-doubter in as many innings.
Lake Minneola finally got out of the inning, down 16-10. The Hawks could not get a hit against senior Ethan Chan (who pitched in all three games of the series for the Tigers) in the bottom of the seventh.
Game over. Here are the highlights of the incredible comeback:
Game 3 of the FHSAA 6A Regional Finals between Martin County and Lake Minneola will go down as one of the most stunning, eventful, jaw-dropping high school baseball games EVER.
— Eric Richey (@EricRicheyVSN) May 11, 2026
SEVEN combined HRs
2 grand slams
Home team a pitch away from the 10-run rule
Visiting team comes back… pic.twitter.com/eXQzVWtalD
Martin County, which trailed 9-1 in the fifth inning, came all of the way back to win 16-10. It punched its ticket to the state semifinals for the first time in nearly 60 years in large part because of two grand slams.