CCA vs. Lake Worth in Regionals Photo Courtesy of JeAnn Will

Senior D.J. Pooler struck out 12 and drove in the first run Tuesday as the Community Christian baseball team defeated Lake Worth Christian 3-0 in a Region 4-1A quarterfinal in Lantana.

Pooler scattered six hits and pushed his season strikeout total to an area-best 125.

"He had the bases loaded twice and kept his concentration and focus and came through with the key strikeouts when he needed it," Community coach Ric Baldwin said.

The Cougars (16-12) tied a school record for wins and earned their first regional playoff win since 2000.

Community had just three hits, and each was big.

Pooler had a run-scoring double in the first and Jesse Williams had an RBI single in the third.

In the second, Jason Van Woerkom walked, went to second on Dillon Hataway's bunt single, moved to third on Josh McGath's sacrifice bunt and scored when Zach Sketchley reached on a fielding errors.

"We put the ball in play," Baldwin said. "We spent a half an hour (Monday) on bunting practice and we had two of the prettiest bunts to score that second run."

The win caps a long road back from a 1-11 finish in 2005. The Cougars were 4-10, 8-10 and 14-9 in Baldwin's first last three seasons.

Community will play at Trinity Christian in a regional semifinal on Friday.