SANFORD, Fla. – No bats, balls, or gloves today.
Christ School went into the Florida League High School Invitational with a predetermined schedule, knowing that Tuesday would be reserved solely for a team outing to Universal Studios.
The Orlando theme park’s rides and attractions will be a lot more enjoyable without a loss hanging over the Greenies’ heads.
Wells Alderman ’26 and Davis Jones ’25 combined to pitch the second shutout of the season Monday night and Christ School scored all but one of its runs in the fourth and fifth innings of a 10-0 mercy rule win over Clearwater (Fla.).
After their day off Tuesday, the Greenies (4-0) resume pool play Wednesday at 6 p.m. vs. IMG Academy Royal (Fla.).
“I’m just really proud of the guys for starting off the tournament like this with a really good win over a big public school (Clearwater has an enrollment of about 1,600 students),” Christ School coach Wes King P’27 said.
“They threw a good arm against us, their ace. He had some good velocity, and our guys just kept chipping away. Reese Ballard in particular was able fight off some tough pitches and get us a sacrifice fly (in the second inning). After that, we were able to play some small ball, delay steal off a left-handed pitcher, and show our athleticism and speed. The pressure kind of got to them and we were able to open it up.”
The Greenies took advantage of six Clearwater errors but did their share to earn the 10 runs as well – Will Walker ‘25 was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and Luka Rose ‘25 went 2-2 with two RBIs. Jakob Iwanek ‘24 had an RBI double and Wells helped his own cause by going 1-2 with an RBI.
Pitching-wise, Wells improved to 2-0 on the season with a four-inning start, allowing two hits and one walk to go along with two strikeouts.
“Wells threw it well for us,” Coach King said.
“We had been building him for this moment and this week. We wanted to get him out there in Game 1. He kept them at bay and allowed us to get a lead and get going. That was big for us and now looking ahead to Wednesday, we’ll have our hands full with a good IMG team.”