Eagles Complete Incredible Season in State Baseball
By Chris Bony
Outlook Writer
Photos courtesy of NFC.
North Florida Christian’s baseball team silenced a lot of doubters this season when it returned to the Class 3A state title game for the second consecutive season. The Eagles won’t be remembered for winning state championships this year after falling to Westminster Christian 7-2 in the title game.
But this 2015 team most certainly won’t be forgotten.
“We lost a lot of kids from last year’s state title team so this year was a little bit more of a rebuilding year,” NFC coach Mike Posey said. “We ended up winning 21 games and getting to the state championship game so I think these kids did a great job and had a great year.”
After a slow start and beginning the season with a record of 8-8, NFC did not expect to get this far but they was able to turn the season around. After a few win streaks, the Eagles finished this season with a 21-10 record.
“We started out really slow. We had to really figure out everyone’s role on the team,” said senior second baseman Logan Dungey. “Probably about midway through the season we just started clicking as a team and was able to make this run to state.”
Senior pitcher Cole Sands said the Eagles’ early struggles helped sharpen their focus.
“We were playing in a tournament and finished 1-3 and from there we had a choice to either put our heads down or bow up and finish this season strong,” Sands said. “From there we won 14 games and we were really good.”
NFC fell behind early in the state title game as they trailed 5-1 by the third inning.
“We just couldn’t get our offense going,” senior outfielder Ethan Michaelis said.
The Eagles are not hanging their heads down because of the unfortunate ending to their amazing run this season. Their early schedule saw them face 10 pitchers considered Division 1 prospects in their first 15 games.
“We actually had to come together as a team and fight it out,” said senior Landon Seymour. “We weren’t handed anything, we just had to stick together and pull out those wins.”
NFC is losing eight seniors this year, including Sands who is ranked 20th nationally among pitchers and is expected to enter the MLB draft this summer.
