SANFORD, Fla. – Indecision or the itsy-bitsiest mistake will come back to haunt you against this Christ School baseball team.
Two opponents so far in the Florida League High School Invitational have committed a total of nine errors. But the Greenies’ scrappiness and speed has a lot to do with that.
The team only mustered up four hits Wednesday night. However, it was more than enough with Western Carolina University recruit Charlie Collins ’24 on the mound.
Jakob Iwanek ’24 and Luka Rose ’25 each had two RBIs and Christ School took advantage of seven walks and three IMG Academy Royal (Fla.) errors in a 7-2 win.
The Greenies (5-0) play their third straight Florida opponent, Tampa Prep (6-2), in Thursday’s championship semifinals at 6:45 p.m.
“Our speed can put a lot of pressure on a defense and that’s the goal,” Christ School coach Wes King P’27 said.
“Once we got some people on base in the third and fourth innings, we were able to get the ball down on the ground and get some big knocks out of some guys. There were some huge plays defensively, guys laying out for balls and giving great effort. Of course, for us, it all starts with Charlie. He’s the ultimate competitor. He just wants the ball, cares about his team, and wants to give us a quality start every time. He’s got one of the biggest hearts I’ve seen in 20-plus years of coaching. This is big for us, a victory over a national name, a national power. It’s big for our guys from Arden and I’m so proud of the way they are buying in.”
Charlie has 73 strikeouts for his career and 15 this season after five more on Wednesday. The rest of his line was 5.1 innings pitched, with six hits allowed, two runs (both earned), and a pair of walks.
Patrick Robichaud ‘27, Brevard College recruit Jacob Wilde ‘24, and Pete Boatwright ’25 provided the relief, with Pete getting one of his two strikeouts to end things.
Jacob got the team out of a bases-loaded jam in sixth, inducing a ground ball to third baseman and Asbury University recruit Reese Ballard ’24.
Jakob’s hit was a triple and he walked twice. Asbury recruit Jake Gravley ’24 and Ethan Rose ’24 (two stolen bases) were responsible for the other two Christ School hits.