Ocoee baseball looking to bounce back

OCOEE — On the one hand, a loss is a loss.

On the other hand, after falling to the undefeated, nationally ranked Olympia Titans on March 4, 8-1, Ocoee’s 4-3 extra-inning loss to the Titans on March 6 was a positive sign for a program that believes it can compete in a tough Class 8A District 3.

“We feel like we’re capable of beating all of them — we just didn’t get it done these two games,” Knights coach Bobby Brewer said after Friday’s loss. “We went over to their place Wednesday, and we didn’t play well. All we asked our kids to do was come out and compete today, and that’s what I think we did.”

Brewer’s ballclub is now 0-2 in district play, meaning it will have to battle back in the next few weeks. Ocoee (4-4) will begin that process with a pair of games this week against Evans. The Knights will host the Trojans on Wednesday and take to the road on Friday, with both games set to begin at 4:30 p.m.

One thing the Knights can feel good about is their pitching. 

Logan Cariglio pitched 7.2 innings for Ocoee on Friday, also just allowing one run for his third strong outing of the season.

“Our pitching has been very good — it’s been our strong suit,” Brewer said. “We just have trouble scoring runs like we did last year. We’re hitting the ball better this year, we’ve scored more runs early, but when we start seeing quality pitching like this, we’ve got to be able to put together better at-bats.”

As the Knights look to regain form after a strong start to the season, Brewer will look to his seven seniors on the roster to help keep the team focused with games against district rivals West Orange and Apopka looming in the weeks after the Evans series.

“Anytime that you’ve got as many seniors on the field as we do, leadership should never be in question,” Brewer said. “I think we have leaders … our seniors have done a great job all year for us.”

Contact Steven Ryzewski at [email protected].