Zion’s Baker Tosses No-Hitter In 2A-13 Championship

Winning three in a row of anything is a challenge in itself. Winning a district championship is the challenge when the season begins, and trying to repeat for the third straight year seems far fetched. Thursday afternoon, Zion Lutheran defeated Boca Christian for the District 2A-13 championship to do just that.

Blayne Baker, who has been part of the past two district titles, received the start for the Lions on the mound in an effort to shut down Boca Christian. He responded by tossed a complete-game no-hitter on the biggest stage of the year as Zion Lutheran won 10-0.

“That’s him, that what we expect from him ever day,” Lions Manager Ray Ayala said about his ace. “As long as the guys don’t make any mistakes behind him, we will get that from him all day long. He always pounds the ball and hits his spots. He’s my workhorse, my only senior, and I depend on him.”

Baker was pinpoint all afternoon, striking out seven, allowing no hits and only three baserunners by way of hit-by-pitch. Baker was supported by a well spread-out offense, which put together nine hits in four complete innings and scored 10 runs with at least one run coming in every inning.

“It felt good; winning three in a row is nice,” said Baker. “Moving on to regionals now and hopefully we stay hot. We will probably see these guys again, and its tough to beat a team four times in a year. We have meshed together very well since the beginning of the season as a team and with our first year coach. Even though we may not be as loaded as in the past, we have a very good team and hopefully we go far.”

The Lions proved how to win as a team, with every player in the lineup either recording an RBI or scoring a run. Jouseph Renovales led the way by going 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs, and added to his county-leading stolen base total with two more.

Zion Lutheran started slow, with just one run in the first after sending seven batters to the plate. In the second, the offense exploded for five hits and six runs, with contribution from all nine batters.

With a 7-0 lead, the Lions scored one in the third, fourth and fifth to win 10-0 and cut the game short.

Despite getting no hit, the Blazers will shake this game off and get ready for next week. As the runner-up in the district, Boca Christian will play their first regional game on the road. If both teams can pick up a win next week in their first regional games, it will set up a fourth meeting between the two on the road to Fort Myers.

“For a smaller team, we’ve had some challenges of several games that didn’t go our way,” said Blazers Manager Clint Erickson. “One-run situations where we didn’t finish. Its been a season where we are working on finishing stronger, and we haven’t quite been able to put that together yet. For having 13 on the roster, they are being resilient and I am proud of our boys. Some mental mistakes hurt us today, and against good teams like this, we cant get away with it.”

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