Varsity baseball has been a Blake tradition since the team was the first of all Bengal athletic teams to win a regional championship in 2001; however, that was four years ago, and this year’s team is setting out to claim a banner of its own.

Last year the varsity baseball team ended the season with a disappointing record of 9-10. Since many of the losses could have easily been victories, they were particularly painful to endure.

Says coach Jon Green, “There were too many close games we lost. You’d think that we would have won some of them, but no matter how close we came we always fell short.” This year’s team should not have the same problem as eight strong players return from last year’s squad.

Pitching will be one of the most important keys to the team’s success this year, with two very strong pitchers to rely on in senior Adam Rohrer and junior Zack Tarner.

Tarner will be returning as a second year varsity player and Rohrer is making a comeback to the program after proving to be a tremendous talent his freshman and sophomore seasons on the varsity team. Rohrer has been clocked in the high 80’s in practice and his accuracy is dramatically improved. “Pitching is always the key,” says Green. “It basically makes or breaks the team.”

The Bengals run totals should improve with the return of senior Eric Knorr and juniors Jose Flores and Matt Schrader. Says Knorr, “This year we definitely have to hit the ball better. We need to give the pitchers some help by scoring more runs.”

A weapon the Bengals will definitely use to put more points on the board is senior Greg Piskapas, who has the ability to successfully steal bases at any time.

This year the Bengals certainly have the talent and experience to turn the program back into regional contenders. Says Piskapas, “We’re not going to be satisfied with anything but a state championship.”