JJ Friedman

Staff Writer

After last year’s great season of winning a league title with a (19-5, 8-2) record with a league MVP on the team as well as five kids making all league, on top of making CIF finals, the boys baseball team looks to improve even more this year.

The team is currently 2 and 1, and the team’s head coach Chris Scarlata is extremely optimistic about this season.

“You don’t want to play us,” Scarlata said. “We can be very dangerous.”

The boys also have a new pitcher who was last year’s league MVP, David Blazer ’11. Although he has been usually known for his power hitting, and played outfield for the majority of last season, he is now taking on the new pitching role; this has created a new threat in the pitching staff.

“He has the potential to be a dominant pitcher,” Scarlata said. “We will go as far as our pitching takes us.”

Other than the addition of Blazer to the pitching staff, the team’s pitching has one of youngest rotations in recent years.  The team is also relying on the contributions of Jordan Ross ’12, Jonah Resnick ’13, Corey Gitman ’12, and Eli Patt ’14 to take it far.

The importance of pitching this year has been preached to the team in large part because of the new bat rule, which has made the bats this year less powerful. This rule has been established in high school baseball due to an incident that caused an athlete to fall into a coma. The addition of the new bat rule means that teams will be using bats with smaller “sweet spots,” causing less power in hits.

In addition, the team has received immediate help from the freshman class, with Sammy Lawrence ’14 and Ari Bender ’14, who will have playing time on the field this year. Laurence has even received a starting spot at right field this year.

With the loss of seven seniors, the underclassman will have a greater responsibility in helping the team repeat its success of last year. But the athletes seem optimistic.

“I am extremely excited this season! We have a group of guys who love baseball and are determined to win,” Jason Welsh ’13 said.