The Blazers Baseball team played well on Tuesday night, but Imagine School of North Port came away with the victory. Randall Collins started on the mound and lasted just an inning and two thirds before being pulled from the game with an injury. Evan Poznanski then took the mound and took a few batters to get settled, hitting the first batter and walking the second to bring in the Sharks second run in the inning. It looked as if the Blazers would get out of the inning as the next batter grounded the ball to second baseman Rowan Baum, but the sun played a factor in the game as Connor Lundy tried to make the catch at first base and two runs would score on the error to make the game 0-4 in favor of the Sharks. From that point on, Poznanski and the defense was locked in. The Blazers, however, couldn't put together an inning to push across a run as Sharks pitcher Alexis Pereira was nearly perfect in his two hit, two walk, complete game shutout. The Blazers best chance came in the top of the 4th inning as Poznanski got things started with a one out single to left field. Luke LeClair would follow with a walk to put runners at first and second for Collin Lawson. Lawson singled on a liner to right field and Poznanski was thrown out trying to advance from second to home. Collins ended the season 4-4 on the mound with a 2.81 ERA, striking out 57 batters over 42.1 innings, with one save in relief. Poznanski would go 1-1 with 26 strikeouts over 18 innings during his Freshman year on the mound, with an ERA 1.94. The loss ends the Blazers 2024 campaign in the FHSAA District Semi-Finals with a final record of 10-11-1 (Previously reported incorrectly).

In comparing the team with last years team: ERA's from all pitchers were down as the average ERA went down from 6.267 to 4.274. The lowest ERA in 2023 was above 5.0, with three Blazers (Collins 2.81, Poznanski 1.94, and Justin Brock 2.82) all below 3.00. Strikeouts were +35, as every Blazer pitcher held a positive strikeout to innings pitched ratio. Walks were down 15 from last year, with the strikeout to walk ratio improving by .700. Collins led the way with nearly four strikeouts per walk. The 2024 Blazers committed fewer errors than the 2023 Blazers, committing just under 2 errors per game, with a fielding percentage of .925, while the 2023 Blazers committed 2.5 errors per game and had a .908 fielding percentage. At the plate, the Blazers continued to struggle, but raised the team batting average by .200. Leaders in the category were Poznanski (+.160) & Hefti (+.018). On the bases, the Blazers stole 21 more bases than last year, led by Hefti and Brock with 21 each. While the averages and stolen bases went up, nearly everything else offensively went down.

The Blazers will miss our seniors, Chris Delgado, Luke LeClair, Connor Lundy, & Alex Hefti, as they continue on to college and work next year. We thank each and every one of you for your dedication to the SCS baseball program.