November 8th-17th
3rd Annual COACH BEETS CLASSIC
Florida Prospect Baseball is hosting a charity 16 team pool play tournament In honor of Larry Beets for all the great things he has done for Pasco County Baseball. The Beets Classic has now raised $3,384 for local charities around Pasco County
For more information please contact HC Lyndon Coleman (Contact@floridaprospectbaseball.com)
East Lake HS are BACK to BACK Champions
East Lake HS has won back to back Beets Classic Championships by defeating Land O’ Lakes HS in 2021 by a score of 5-2 and defeating Plant HS in 2022 by a score of 7-2
Sleep in Heavenly Peace
Sleep in Heavenly Peace (SHP) is the Charity that the Beets Classic will be supporting this year. SHP is a national charity that has a local chapter in the Tampa Bay area. They come to Windel Krinn High School as one of there site locations to build beds for children in need. Richard Hall who is the build manager will be on site to accept our donation at the championship game. Check out more information about Sleep in Heavenly Peace on their website. You can also donate directly to SHP on their website.
https://shpbeds.org/chapter/fl-tampa-bay/
Who is Coach Beets?
This tournament is being played to recognize a Pasco County coaching legend. Following his playing career at Austin Peay State University, where he captained his team to an Ohio Valley Conference Championship, Coach and his wife Donna moved to Florida to pursue their careers in education. Here, they both taught and raised their daughter, Bethany. For 47 years, he gave his all to educate and mentor all the young people in his classroom and on the field.
His first head coaching job was at Gulf High (79-81) where he set a school record for victories. He did the same at Hudson HS (82-83) at a school that had never had a winning season. In 1984, he led the inaugural program at Ridgewood HS. That season, with just grades 8-10, the Rams won an astonishing 10 games. From there, Ridgewood became a mainstay in the playoffs. During his 27 years at the helm of the Rams, coach Beets teams won 37 championships. In 2002, the Rams shocked the baseball world knocking off the country’s number one ranked team; undefeated Dunedin, in the state semifinal game. The Rams lost the following day to Bishop Kenney and ended the season ranked #9 in the country. He won 494 games at Ridgewood and 565 total as a high school head coach in Pasco County. Coach Beets retired in 2011 and spent the next 10 seasons at PHSC as an assistant and made the Junior College World Series on two different occasions.
In 2007, Ridgewood’s field was named in his honor. As a former PA announcer use to say at home games, “this is the house that Beets built”. This is no understatement! He took a field that had the bare necessities and turned it into a cathedral of baseball. The number of improvements to the facility are just too long to list. However, block by block, volunteers of coaches, players, and friends enclosed the wall that surrounds Beets Field. In addition, the same was done with the press box. It was an event to watch and play at Beets Field!
What a legacy he has forged in our community! All the life lessons that players and assistant coaches lean on in their day to day lives with his mission of Hit the Top Step Running (HTTSR). The pedestal that his former players and coaches put him on is perhaps the highest honor bestowed to a coach. Forget the victories and the field, it is the relationships he created through his many years of service to those who crossed his path. He always said, “you have to give up being good to be great”. Coach, you are the greatest!
Withlacoochee River Electric Co-Op Park
PHSC Tournament Series will be held at the Withlacoochee River Electric Co-Op Park. PHSC has recently added a new turf baseball infield and a LED Lights to make it one of the top facilities in the State of Florida and is the home of the Pasco-Hernando State College Bobcats.
BEETS FIELD
· Originally designed to field a Junior High School team.
· Transitioned from Bahia grass to Bermuda grass
· Early teams had to insert individual sprinkler heads before automatic system was installed.
· Press box was built by volunteers
· Hill was removed in left field
· Fence was removed and block by block the current wall that encloses field was constructed by volunteers.
· Concrete halo with royal blue carpet was built around home plate
· Warning track was installed with crushed brick encircling the stadium.
· New home/visitor bullpens with concrete, carpeted catching areas with constructed down both foul lines.
· Giant practice hitting area and expanded cages
· Beautiful signs in outfield recognizing former players drafted into professional baseball.
· Awesome large scoreboard (that was tragically removed by a former county AD and replaced w/ the current generic board)
· Too many other things to mention!
· ANYTHING AND EVERYTHING THAT IS GREAT ABOUT THIS FIELD AND SURROUNDING INFRASTRUCURE WAS UNDER THE DIRECTION OF COACH BEETS!
EVENT DETAILS
Tournament Shirts will be sold at the gate of all 3 Tournament sites for 20 dollars a shirt.
Host Site Details
Land O Lakes High School – 20325 Gator Lane Land O Lakes, FL 34638
$5 Admission 10 and under free. NO CONCESSIONS.
Pasco-Hernando State College– 10230 Ridge Rd. New Port Richey, FL 34564
$5 Admission 10 and under Free
Concessions will be open for all games
Sweets – Assorted Candy- Cotton Candy- Blow Pops- Ice Pops
Drinks– Gatorade- Pepsi Products- Water- Sweet Tea
Other – Salted Peanuts and chips
Payment– We accept cash-venmo-cashapp- No Credit cards
Turf Field– Metal Spikes are allowed- NO SUNFLOWER SEEDS OR GUM ON TURF.
Wendell Krinn Technical High School (BEETS FIELD)- 7650 Orchid Lake Rd, New Port Richey, FL 34653
$5 Admission 10 and under free- Full Service Concessions will be open
Park in the main parking lot and walk through the football stadium to get to baseball field. There is no parking behind home plate on the hill.
TOURNAMENT RULES
7 innings or 2hr 10min time limit pool play.. Semi Final and Championship game are 7 Full innings with a 10 Run Rule in effect at 5 innings.
High School baseball rules will be enforced. official lineups will be turned in at plate meeting to umpires. Extra hitters are allowed. If you start with a 12 man line up, you have to finish game with a 12 man lineup. No dropping down to a 9 man lineup.
Tie equals half a win , half a loss
One inning of Texas tiebreaker if time allows. Runner on second last batted out previous inning , zero outs
Mercy rules 15 after 3, 12 after 4 , 8 after 5
Ejections Rule-
All suspensions/ejections run through the head umpire of the tournament. 1 game suspension for non violent. Violent ejections they are suspended for the rest of the tournament.
Seeding and tie breaker rules pool play
- Record
- Head To Head
- Runs Against
- Runs Scored
TEAMS
Mitchell
Springstead
Hernando
Steinbrenner
East Lake
Plant
Land O’ Lakes
Bishop Mclaughlin
Tampa Catholic
Dunedin
Robinson
AATL
Wire Grass
Cypress Creek
Lecanto
North Side Christain
SCHEDULE/SCORES
LAST UPDATED
| DATE | TIME | LOCATION | HOME | AWAY | SCORE |
| 11/7/23 | 4;30pm | Land O' Lakes | LOL | Hernando | 5-4 Hernando |
| 11/7/23 | 4:30pm | Beets Field | Mitchell | Springstead | 7-3 Springstead |
| 11/7/23 | 5:00pm | WREC Park | East Lake | Robinson | 3-2 East lake |
| 11/7/23 | 7:00pm | Land O' Lakes | Plant | Dunedin | 5-1 Plant |
| 11/7/23 | 7:00pm | Beets Field | Bishop | Wiregrass | 9-6 Wiregrass |
| 11/7/23 | 7:30pm | WREC Park | Northside Christian | Steinbrenner | 3-2 NC |
| 11/8/23 | 4:30pm | WREC Park | AATL | Cypress Creek | 6-5 Cypress Creek |
| 11/8/23 | 7:00pm | WREC Park | Tampa Catholic | Lecanto | 10-2 TC |
| 11/11/23 | 9:00am | Beets Field | LOL | Lecanto | 7-6 Lecanto |
| 11/11/23 | 9:00am | WREC Park | Springstead | Northside Christian | 6-0 NC |
| 11/11/23 | 11:30am | Beets Field | Robinson | Cypress Creek | 2-0 Cypress Creek |
| 11/11/23 | 11:30am | WREC Park | Hernando | Tampa Catholic | 9-5 TC |
| 11/11/23 | 2:00pm | Beets Field | Dunedin | Wiregrass | 13-1 Wiregrass |
| 11/11/23 | 2:00pm | WREC Park | Bishop | Plant | 9-0 Plant |
| 11/11/23 | 4:30pm | Beets Field | AATL | East Lake | 13-0 East Lake |
| 11/11/23 | 4:30pm | WREC Park | Steinbrenner | Mitchell | 3-0 Mitchell |
| 11/12/23 | 9:00am | Beets field | Lecanto | Hernando | 3-3 Tie |
| 11/12/23 | 9:00am | WREC Park | Cypress Creek | East Lake | 2-1 East Lake |
| 11/12/23 | 11:30am | Beets Field | Bishop | Dunedin | 5-2 Bishop |
| 11/12/23 | 11:30am | WREC Park | Robinson | AATL | 13-7 Robinson |
| 11/12/23 | 2:00pm | Beets Field | Mitchell | Northside Christian | 4-3 Mitchell |
| 11/12/23 | 2:00pm | WREC Park | Wiregrass | Plant | 14-3 Plant |
| 11/12/23 | 4:30pm | Beets Field | LOL | Tampa Catholic | 8-5 LOL |
| 11/12/23 | 4:30pm | WREC Park | Steinbrenner | Spring stead | 4-3 Steinbrenner |
| 11/14/23 | 5:00pm | WREC Park | East Lake | Plant | 5-1 Plant |
| 11/14/23 | 7:30pm | WREC Park | Tampa Catholic | Mitchell | 10-0 |
| 11/16/23 | 7:00pm | Beets Field | Tampa Catholic | East Lake |
POOL A
| Team | Win | Loss | Tie | Runs Allowed | Runs Scored |
| East Lake | 3 | 0 | 3 | 18 | |
| Robinson | 1 | 2 | 11 | 15 | |
| Cypress Creek | 2 | 1 | 7 | 9 | |
| ATTL | 0 | 3 | 132 | 11 |
POOL B
| Team | Win | Loss | Runs Allowed | Runs Scored | |
| Plant | 3 | 0 | 4 | 28 | |
| Duniden | 0 | 3 | 23 | 4 | |
| Bishop McLaughlin | 1 | 2 | 20 | 1 | |
| Wiregrass | 2 | 1 | 21 | 25 |
POOL C
| Team | Win | Loss | Runs Allowed | Runs Scored | |
| Northside Christian | 2 | 1 | 6 | 15 | |
| Steinbrenner | 1 | 2 | 9 | 6 | |
| Mitchell | 2 | 1 | 10 | 10 | |
| Sprinstead | 1 | 2 | 13 | 10 |
POOL D
| Team | Win | Loss | Runs Allowed | Runs Scored | |
| Tampa Catholic | 2 | 0 | 7 | 19 | |
| Land O' Lakes | 0 | 2 | 12 | 10 | |
| Hernando | 1 | 1 and Tie | 16 | 12 | |
| Lecanto | 1 | 1 and Tie | 19 | 12 |