On Wed., Feb. 25 at 6 p.m., the varsity baseball team played against West Broward High School. The team experienced a rough start before ultimately losing to West Broward, which also meant losing their BCAA Tier 1 title after a series of wins this season.

West Broward led the game with a homerun while the team’s batting was lacking. Many players took too many pitches, either striking out or getting out in the field.

“We need to be early at the game plays, and stop hesitating when we need to make hits going,” pitcher Giovanni Rojas (12) said.

Despite batters struggling early on in the game, they made up for their hitting issues as the innings progressed. Eventually, some hits from the team began reaching the outfield.

Later in the fourth inning, catcher Jaxon Taylor (17) hit a homerun and first baseman Matthew Toback (8) hit an RBI, leading to the team scoring four runs in the fifth inning. Taylor’s hit seemed to mark a turning point in the game for the team.

Toback also displayed speed during the game, swiping a bag and proceeding to second base safely. However, Toback had an unstable stance at bat and did not make many attempts to swing at West Broward’s pitches.

Following the four runs in the fifth inning, third baseman Jake Rizzo (22) hit an RBI to increase the team’s runs to five.

Despite the loss, the team played a strong defensive game, particularly in left and center field, with few errors committed in the field overall.

“I think we can improve in the game by attacking the game early and being consistent the whole game,” Rojas said.

Another strong point for the team was Rojas’ pitching. He threw many strikes during the game, helping out the struggling varsity team as West Broward racked up nine runs.

Still, collaboration was one area that was in need of improvement in certain areas.

“I think we did good but there are still things we can improve on going forward. We need to come out being more aggressive in the first part of the game and we need to make more plays on defense. I think we all need to grow as a team because we are all separate right now,” Taylor said.

The team’s communication led to performance gaps throughout the game. Just like with hitting, though, the team began to come together and communicate effectively as the end of the game neared.

The game concluded with the team losing by a score of 9-5. They will play their next away game on Thurs., March 26, at 4 p.m. against Flanagan High School.