Boca Raton Christian Going On The Offensive

Logan Rataiczak is a key addition to the team this season.

It’s something the teams lucky enough to have one can take for granted: the batting cage.

But at Boca Raton Christian, the team is using one for the first time this season, and it has everyone going batty — but in a good way.

No longer will the Blazers have to try to get in their reps on the field. No longer will they not being able to work on specific hitting deficiencies that only a cage can uncover.

“We’re real excited about having that,” Blazers coach Clint Erickson said. “We had it in the building stage last year, and having it fully functional now, I’m excited to see if it translates into greater hitting percentage and more runs. We’ve always just been taking a hit out of a turtle in the infield and give them live pitches, which isn’t a bad thing, but as far as efficiency is concerned, it’s excited to get more reps using a batting cage.”

The use of the cage has allowed Erickson and his fellow coaches to identify very specific mechanics that need tweaking.

“Having those reps in the cage will identify more of those things as opposed to trying to fit everything into a practice and not being able to have that station to work at,” Erickson said. “I think the fluidity and repetitions and timing will just translate into a better hitting team.”

The cage is the result of a few of the parents in the engineering and construction industries coming together to make it happen.

“The school kicked in some, but a couple of parents really carried the weight on that and really blessed us by helping us out,” Erickson said.

Despite not having a cage, last year’s team had a .338 batting average with five players over .350.

Junior third baseman/outfielder Blaize McSweeney, who is in his third season on the team, is already seeing the cage’s benefits.

Freshman Zach Gray will play at first base this year.

“Ever since we got our new batting cage, we’ve gotten a lot more hitting in, and that’s going to greatly improve us from how we did last year,” McSweeney said. “We have a lot of people who can get on base, we just need to connect at the right time and we’ll get a lot of runs.

Senior catcher Grant Gardner also has noticed some strides made from last season.

“I think we’re definitely stronger offensively than last year,” Gardner said. “There were a couple of times we’d see some pitching and a couple of the team members couldn’t come around on the ball. It definitely could have been prevented with a little more time in the cage and more bp. We didn’t have that much time to get some bp in last season.”

Gardner and McSweeney are two of four returning starters this season. The others are Tommy and Jack Havelka. Tommy was last year’s hitting leader with a .491 batting average, 26 runs and 19 RBI. He belted eight doubles and three triples. Jack hit .353 with 20 runs and a team-leading 27 RBI. He hit seven doubles.

Gardner is a vocal leader who has an effective approach to helping his younger teammates.

“As a senior I hope to get everyone on the team to play their game, try their hardest, don’t ever give up,” Gardner said. “Even if we’re down, don’t give up. Always try. Many weird things happen in baseball. Anything can happen, so always try your hardest and always have a good attitude. I always want my underclassmen to have a good attitude on the field.”

As the team’s attitude goes, it will go, he said.

“I think attitude is everything when it comes to success,” Gardner said. “If you don’t have a good attitude, how are you going to be successful? You have to have a good attitude in order to be successful. As long as you keep the meshing of the team with the good attitude, you’ll get farther in the season as long as everyone has a good attitude.”

McSweeney has a more soft-spoken approach, but he isn’t afraid to approach players who he sees not doing things correctly.

“I just give them whatever advice I can to help them, just gently kind of help them, but I don’t sugarcoat anything,” McSweeney said. “If they’re making a mistake, I’ll tell them that up front, but I’ll help them work through it. We have a lot of younger players, a lot of guys who haven’t played in a while, and our goal is just to make them better and see them progress as the season progresses to get them ready for next year.”

The Blazers have two key additions this season, Erickson noted. One of them is Logan Rataiczak, who was homeschooled, and the other is Adriel Martinez, a junior transfer from Santaluces.

Adriel Martinez, a junior transfer from Santaluces, will be a key member of the pitching staff.

“We’re excited about having those boys on the team,” Erickson said. “Adriel can bring a dynamic of competitiveness, of helping these boys appreciate the idea of earning what you get to do and defintely put an effort toward something.”

Martinez, who throws in the low- to mid-80s, will figure large in the pitching rotation. Erickson said he “brings a nice element of control and has a good cutter.”

Rataiczak has a “nice way of mixing up his speed,” and Jack Havelka “has the most movement on the ball” and stays in control, keeping hitters guessing.

As they seek their goal of a district title, the Blazers, who have advanced to the regionals five of the past six years, are staying true to their motto.

“Our theme is ‘everything has a purpose,’ ” McSweeney said. “Everything we do, we want to have a purpose for doing that. Everything we do on the field, how we act, everything we do, we do it for a specific reason.”

Erickson said he’s looking forward to a great season ahead, coaching a bunch of kids who are fired up and ready to go, despite their youth.

“This year is a building year. I have some younger players, some people who haven’t played in a while,” he said. “We’ve some talent in the senior and junior class, but we do have a younger group coming through than in past years. I’m excited about their enthusiasm. The younger kids are really excited about putting in the effort and getting better. We do it all for one purpose, and that’s to honor God and glorify him through what we do and to use that as a way to do something bigger than just playing baseball.”

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