The High Tech High Storm baseball team wrapped up its 2007 season with a 19-0 loss to Francis Parker in the CIF playoffs after a 20-5 regular season and an 8-6 postseason victory over Horizon.
“Our program has come a long way in three years,” said HTH head coach Cory Tatz.
The baseball team was created in 2005 and hired Tatz to build it from the ground up.
“They didn’t have a baseball program at the time, and the students wanted and asked the school to put one together,” Tatz said.
Before taking over the program, Tatz had coached baseball for more than 20 years at various levels. Among them were Little League teams, the Patrick Henry freshman team, varsity teams and traveling baseball teams.
In its inaugural season the Storm posted a winning record (8-7), and a junior varsity program was established a year later.
That same year, the varsity team improved its record to 14-8 but missed out on a CIF playoff bid. This year, however, HTH won 20 games in the regular season and earned a playoff spot.
HTH has been an independent but will join a new conference, the Frontier League, for next season, according to Tatz. The Frontier League will be made up primarily of new schools, he said.
Despite HTH being a relatively new program, the team has developed a core of standout players, including senior pitcher and team captain Ryan Livingstone, senior Zack Keane and senior catcher Sean McCabe.
“Livingstone has been a terrific pitcher for us all year long,” Tatz said. “Keane had the top batting average in the section for about three-quarters of the year, hit six home runs and is a powerful hitter overall. McCabe has also had an outstanding year, with a .400 batting average,” Tatz said.
The baseball team has some talented underclass players returning as well.
“Junior Quinn Martin has been on our team all three years and is a promising center-fielder,” Tatz said. “He was hitting much better in the second half of the year and will be good next year. Sophomore Mike Agler was on our varsity team as a freshman and plays third base. He’ll also be a very good player to watch next year,” Tatz said.
HTH has expanded its sports department in recent years.
In addition to baseball, the school has a varsity girls softball program, boys and girls varsity basketball program, cross-country, girls volleyball and tennis. A fencing program is currently in the works. HTH opened in 2000 and is located at the former Naval Training Center in Point Loma.
Four more HTH schools will be opened by September 2007.
There will be a new middle school and high school in both Chula Vista and Escondido.
“Our team has hard workers on it,” Tatz said. “They are very motivated kids who are excited to go to school, and that translates to the baseball program as well. They play hard and are very respectful.”