By PATRICK YASINSKAS
BROOKSVILLE — Entering the season, the Nature Coast baseball team appeared to have a very strong pitching staff. As the season approaches the halfway mark, that pitching staff is even stronger.
University of Florida signee and potential early pick in this summer’s Major League Baseball Draft Jackson Hoyt and senior right-hander Raymond Groetsch were known commodities and they’ve done as expected. But sophomore right-hander Jake Loeffler has now joined the mix.
Loeffler’s breakout game came in a 4-3 Nature Coast victory against River Ridge on Monday night in the opening round of the 2025 Farm Bureau Insurance High School Baseball Classic at Sharks Field. Loeffler turned in efficient performance in only his second start of the season. Loeffler allowed three runs on seven hits while throwing 86 pitches over six innings. He struck out seven batters and allowed only one walk.
Loeffler showed lots of promise as a freshman late last season, but his sophomore year got off to a slow start due to a back injury that kept him out of the rotation early on. Loeffler had pitched only four innings prior to Monday night, but he appeared to be in midseason form against River Ridge (6-4). His strong outing put the Sharks (9-3) in a great position for the remainder of the 11-team tournament that runs through Friday’s championship game.
With Loeffler picking up the win with some relief help from senior right-hander Brady McMurdo, who pitched a hitless and scoreless seventh inning, the Sharks were able to save Hoyt and Groetsch for later in the tournament. Hoyt has been battling the flu since last week. Although Hoyt usually is in the lineup as the designated hitter when he’s not pitching, he sat out the game against River Ridge.
“I don’t like to call Jake our No. 3 pitcher,” Nature Coast coach Dan Garofano said. “I think we’ve got 1A, 1B and 1C. Jake did exactly what we needed him to do. He stayed ahead in the count all night and that’s the key to good pitching.”
With Loeffler in control all night and McMurdo turning in a strong final inning, Nature Coast also got some timely hitting. In a 2-2 game entering the bottom of the fourth inning, junior second baseman Bryce Hewell led off with a single to left and sophomore designated hitter Beckett Monroe, who has been an offensive bright spot all season, followed with an RBI double. The Sharks then took a 4-2 lead when senior shortstop Cody Wright doubled to left field to drive in Monroe.
The Nature Coast offense, which had struggled early in the season before surging in recent games, wasn’t explosive. But the Sharks made their six hits count. Nature Coast scored its first two runs in the second inning with a two-out rally. After senior first baseman Joey Rozsa was hit by a pitch, Wright singled to right field. Junior third baseman Garrick Waggoner then singled to deep right field to drive both runners home.
“We’ve been shuffling our batting order and moving guys around to try to get things going,” Garofano said. “River Ridge is a good team and we faced some quality pitching, but we came up with the hits when we needed them.”
