Marco Island Academy Cruises to PCAC Crown

Marco Island Academy was hitting on all cylinders Thursday night as they dominated the Village School Knights, 9-1, at home, to win the Paradise Coast Athletic Conference Championship. It marks the first time the Rays have brought home a conference championship or a trophy of any kind for baseball.

“It's very meaningful,” said Lazaro Ferro, the Rays head coach. “The fact that it's the first baseball trophy for the school is a great accomplishment because we're going to be losing seven seniors. So it's a big impact. Very good players, too.

The Rays seven seniors are Zach Ferro, the coach’s son and the team’s catcher and part-time pitcher, Jack and Chase Berry, Shamus Coyle, Jason Boeing, John Boxma, and Colby Chute. 

The Rays were strong on the mound, in the field, and at bat in the championship game.

"The defense really came to play today,” Ferro said. "Outstanding plays by Jack Berry at shortstop. Outstanding plays by Grayson Jones. 

Berry made two circus catches in short leftfield from his shortstop position. Jones snuffed out a Knights rally when he dove to make a catch in shallow right field, sprang to his feet, then gunned the runner out returning to first base. 

"He threw that kid out,” Ferro said enthusiastically. “He had the sense to make the catch. Get up quick and throw a strike to first base. That’s what we've been looking for from him to finally put his whole defensive game together. And he did. He's been working very hard, and it tells you that he wants to play the next game because that's what I made very clear to the rest of the outfielders. I have two outfield spots where I need somebody to step up and make plays. And clearly he made them, so he secured himself as a starter for the next game.”

Ferro was also delighted with the performances turned in by pitchers Aiden Herzog and Chase Berry. Herzog started and held the Knights hitless with four strikeouts and just two walks. Berry took over in the fifth and gave up four hits, struck out three and walked two. Berry got out a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning.

“Our two pitchers,” Ferro said, "the great freshman Herzog started the game, phenomenal four innings of no-hit baseball. Chase finished the game pitching, closing the last three. He's been solid throughout the whole year and we had no worries that he would pull us through.

Shamus Coyle, Zach Ferro, and Chase Berry had two hits each for the Rays. Chase Berry knocked in two runs. Ryan Sweeney, Ferro and Herzog each knocked in a run.

The Rays finish the regular season with an 11-11 record. They played Canterbury, the top team in the district, Monday night.

 "We played much tougher teams,” Ferro said of the 2022-2023 season. “Because I felt that we can compete with those teams. Unfortunately, I wasn't counting on losing two key players that we lost at the beginning of the season, one because of grades and the other one he decided not to play. One of them was a very solid pitcher. You've got to recover as a team and put the pieces together. We went through a stretch there where we lost like five games in a row. Then we turned it around."