Boca Raton Christian Runs Away From Berean Christian

Besides scoring twice and driving in a run, Logan Rataiczak pitched a complete game shut-out while striking out nine.

Perfect defense and aggressive, opportunistic base-running backed by a complete game shutout by Logan Rataiczak to ignite the Boca Raton Christian Blazers to a 10-0 victory over the Berean Christian Bulldogs in the HSBN Game of the Week on Thursday.

The Blazers were torrid on the base paths, taking advantage of every passed ball, wild pitch or errant pickoff to score ten runs on nine hits and cut the game short in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Blazers’ manager, Clint Erickson has been impressed by Rataiczak’s continued growth.

“Logan has been really trying to develop some good, off-speed work to complement his other pitches,” said Erickson. “He now throws a knuckleball/change-up. That’s been working out for him.”

Rataiczak rang up nine strikeouts in six innings and was firing on all cylinders.

“I was ready. I was on fire, feeling great and confident on the mound,” Rataiczak said. “I had faith in my team, faith that if the other team put the ball in play, my team would get the outs.”

The Bulldogs looked poised to score in the top of the first inning. Walks to Armani Zalez and D.J. Lawler, followed by a stolen base and a wild pitch put Bulldogs on second and third with one out. Rataiczak struck out the Bulldog’s cleanup hitter and then retired Jordan McCullough on a soft liner to third base.

Blazers’ second baseman Austin Smith, recovering from football injuries to the labra of both shoulders, put on a display offensively and defensively. Smith finished 2-for-2, with an RBI sacrifice fly and three runs scored. He also tracked down two fly balls headed for no-man’s land in shallow right field.

Smith led off the the Blazers’ first by absorbing a fastball off his toe. He advanced to second on a wild pitch, then took off for third and made it after the third baseman threw to first to retire Zach Hofmann. Rataiczak reached on an infield error, scoring Smith.

Ryan McDaniel had an RBI single and scored a run.

Like Smith, Rataiczak reached second on a wild pitch and broke for third after the shortstop’s throw to first to retire Michael Pratt. He slid in safely when the throw from the first baseman, Zalez, was misplayed. Michael Walsh singled up the middle for an RBI, scoring Rataiczak and putting the Blazers ahead 2-0.

An inning after Bulldogs’ starter D.J. Lawler struck out the Blazers’ side in the second, Smith led off with a hustling, infield single. Hofmann dropped down a sacrifice bunt to push Smith into scoring position. Pratt was hit by a pitch. Walsh, who finished with two singles and a double, picked up two more RBIs with his double, although he was thrown out by the width of the baseball trying to stretch it into a triple.

In the fifth, Rataiczak hammered a bona fide triple to the edge of the hedges to score Smith, who had singled with one out. Rataiczak scored on a passed ball to increase the Blazers’ lead to 6-0.

In the sixth, Walsh, pinch-hitter Zach Husey and Blake Calder loaded the bases for the Blazers. Ryan McDaniel notched an RBI with a single. Husey was forced out at home on a 6-2 fielder’s choice off the bat of Anthony Rios. Smith drove in Calder with an RBI sacrifice fly. Hofmann doubled down the left field line, driving in McDaniel and Rios to end the game.

“Throw Back Thursday” didn’t evoke winning ways for the Bulldogs who wore the colors and the “Patriots” name their program jettisoned sixteen years ago. Manager Dave Lawler noted the upcoming challenges for his Bulldogs.

“We’ve got a brutal three games in a row coming up,” said Lawler. “John Carroll tomorrow, a make-up of a rained out district game against Highlands on Monday and we’ll be facing Jupiter’s ace on Tuesday. It all comes down to how we pitch and how we hit.”

Erickson was also looking ahead.

“It’s anybody’s ball game as far as the district playoffs this year. That’s what I’ve been telling my team, that it’s important that we peak as a team during that time,” said the Blazers’ manager. “There’s a lot of good teams in our district; they’ve really beefed it up this year. I think that makes it more fun.”

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