By BRENDAN HALL and EMILY O’LOANE
Although the varsity baseball team had a sub-.500 record of 11-17 for the season, the team exceeded expectations by making it to the district semifinals.
“Our team played as a unit and strung together a ton of hits in order to overcome the difficult challenges we faced,” junior Connor Meredith said.
The key players on the team include senior pitcher Daniel Dixon, senior hitters Samuel Hutsell and Garret Lattin and third baseman Meredith. Dixon is a left-handed pitcher, which gives the team an advantage over opponents. Lattin had an impressive hit in the team’s first game against Lake Mary on Feb. 16.
“It was my first home run on varsity and was in front of a scout,” Lattin said.
The team split a pre-season doubleheader against Venice High School, which they won 4-1, and Sarasota High School, which they lost 7-2. They then started the season 4-1, defeating teams like Lake Mary 7-6 and Colonial 3-1 on Feb. 16 and 17 respectively.
“We did everything right. We made no mistakes; it was a good start to the season,” Meredith said.
The team’s strengths lie in its pitching and outfield play. Dixon pitched complete games against Apopka on Feb. 19 and against Cypress Creek (15-8-2) in the district game on April 28.
“Pitching has done a good job for us this year; just in general, the pitching staff has done their job keeping teams at bay,” Coach Pete Post said.
The team faced a difficult loss against rival Edgewater in the middle of the season. Despite a strong outing, the team lost 3-1.
“We should have won that game, but they had one big hit that saved them three runs,” Dixon said.
The highlight of the boys’ season came in the playoffs. Expected to be out in the first round, the team pulled off a momentous upset against the Cypress Creek Bears by defeating them 11-8, avenging a 2-6 loss on April 7.
“Garret Lattin made a great play. He was center field and chased a fly ball. There were runners in scoring positions, and it saved the runs,” Post said.
The team fell short against Timber Creek (20-7) on April 28, losing 2-3.
“A lot of the things we were trying to get done came together at the end of the year,” Post said.