By Marshall Tempest
Apopka Chief Staff
The Apopka Blue Darter baseball team is 1-2 on the season after losing their season opener to Lake Brantley 2-0, beating Lyman High School 4-3, and then losing to Lake Howell 5-1 in the first three games of the 2025 season.
Apopka vs. Lyman (4-3) Win
Apopka’s one win so far this season was against the Lyman High School Greyhounds on Thursday, Feb. 13. The Blue Darters still had to earn that win as the game went into extra innings before Apopka beat the Greyhounds 4-3 in the eighth inning.
Apopka and Lyman both were able to score a run in the first inning, but the game was quiet after that for the next three innings. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Apopka tallied another run to up the score to 2-1. But Lyman wasn’t going down without a fight and immediately answered the Blue Darters with two runs in the top of the fifth.
Apopka tied the game back up at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth. The seventh inning was quiet, with no scores from either team, forcing the game into extra innings. In the top of the eighth inning, Lyman could not collect any runs, leaving it up to Apopka to secure the win in the bottom of the eighth.
The Blue Darters then walked it off with a game-winning home run by Wyatt Jaggers to claim their first win of the season.
“The at-bat that Wyatt Jaggers had in the bottom of the eighth was big,” Blue Darters head coach Bobby Brewer said. “It just showed that these guys won’t quit.”
As a team in the win, the Blue Darters had a 0.125 batting average, four runs, three hits, three RBIs, and one home run.
Jaggers accounted for three of Apopka’s four runs, contributing two runs and one RBI. Timothy Hamrick and Jonathan Edge each recorded an RBI, while Nico Posluszny and Chance Saunders each collected a run.
Apopka also managed to steal five bases, with Bryce Doss, Ty Livingston, and Aiden Rieli each accounting for one a piece and Saunders accounting for two.
In the win, Maddox Stinson and Tyler Spaid were on the mound for Apopka. Stinson recorded the victory with a 0 ERA, 0 OBA, 0 OBP, and notched one strikeout in 32 pitches after facing nine batters. Spaid had an ERA of 1.40, an OBA of .273, an OBP of .333, surrendered six hits, three runs (one earned), and achieved four strikeouts after 88 pitches and facing 22 batters.
“I was proud of our guys for hanging in there the way they did,” Brewer said. “We hit a lot of balls hard – but just right at them. But we just continued to battle. Spaid pitched the first five innings and gave us a chance. Stinon did a good job throwing in the final three innings.
Apopka vs. Lake Howell (5-1) Loss
After their win over Lyman, Apopka played Lake Howell the next day. Apopka collected just one hit and one run in this loss compared to Lake Howell, which had seven hits and five runs.
The Blue Darters once again struggled at the plate, posting a team batting average of .042 and an OBP of .172. In contrast, the Lake Howell Silverhawks achieved a team batting average of .296 and an OBP of .286.
The game was quiet for the first two innings until an explosive third. At the top of the third inning, Lake Howell scored two runs to take the lead. Apopka responded at the bottom of the third with one run, but they could not match the Silverhawks’ two runs. After that, it was silent for Apopka for the remainder of the game while Lake Howell crossed home plate every other inning. The Silverhawks added one run in the fourth inning and two more in the sixth to secure a 5-1 victory.
The one run for Apopka belonged to Andy Diaz, who also had the Blue Darters’ only hit. Diaz was sent in by Rieli, who collected the team’s only RBI on a sacrifice fly. Apopka left seven players on base in the game and reached the bases four times on errors from Lyman’s fielders.
Hamrick and Logan Page took the mound for Apopka during the loss, with Hamrick pitching five and one-third innings and Page finishing the remaining two-thirds. Hamrick suffered a loss, posting an ERA of 5.25, an OBA of .269, and an OBP of .269. He allowed seven hits and five runs (four earned) while recording six strikeouts on 81 pitches.
Page needed only two pitches to record two outs and close out the sixth.
Looking ahead
This week, Apopka was supposed to face Jones on Tuesday, Feb. 18. However, due to a scheduling mix-up regarding the venue, no officials showed up, and the game never happened. After press time, Apopka had three more games scheduled this week: the first on Wednesday, Feb. 19, against East River, the second on Thursday, Feb. 20, against Freedom High School, and the third on Friday, Feb. 21, at Ocoee, set to start at 7 p.m.
Next week, the boys have three more games. The first is at 4 p.m. Monday, Feb. 24, at Olympia. The second is at 6 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 26, at West Orange. The third is at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, at Cypress Creek.
The Apopka Chief is an award-winning weekly newspaper serving the greater Apopka area in Central Florida since 1923.
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