It has been a memorable and thrilling year for Vero Beach High School sports.

The Fighting Indians football team went undefeated until the final seconds of the state championship game in December before losing by a single point.

Now the baseball team is headed to its own 7A state semifinals in Fort Meyers next weekend. If they defeat the formidable Venice High squad on Friday, May 15, they will play for the state championship on Saturday.

The Vero Beach Fighting Indians baseball team swept the Park Vista Cobras in the regional finals last weekend to advance to the state semifinals, winning the first two games of a possible three-game playoff series at their home field.

In the first game of the series last Friday, the team was bolstered by a six-run bottom of the fourth inning that ballooned their 2-1 lead to 8-1 and came right after the Cobras left the bases loaded in the top half of the inning.

“That was a good momentum swing,” head coach Bryan Rahal said after the game.

Infielder Caleb Wood kept the momentum going with some late-game fireworks, hitting a home run in the sixth inning to give the Fighting Indians a 9-1 lead that the Cobras could not overcome.

Saturday’s game was more competitive, with fans watching from the edges of their seats.

It all came down to the eighth inning. Vero scratched out a lead on a flare single from outfielder Jaxon Pomar that scored shortstop Charles “Chuck” Singletary, then added on when pitcher and outfielder Hudson Schlitt stole home to give the Fighting Indians a two-run cushion.

“Chuck was focused,” Rahal said. “He’s been focused all week, and kind of changing his frame of mind, changing his approach at the plate, working hard, figuring some things out.

“I’m super proud of our guys from where we started in the fall up to now,” Rahal said after the victory. “The players have shown development and growth. It’s a testimony to how hard the kids work.

“It’s a fun team. They’re a blessing to coach. They work hard and deserve this opportunity.”

“They knocked us out last year, so I wanted to beat these guys and give it everything I got,” said Cody Morgan, a pitcher and infielder. “I wanted to give the underclassmen a chance to go over there [to the semifinals].”

The semifinals will feature four teams – Vero Beach, Hagerty, Marjory Stoneman Douglas and Venice – vying for the state title at Hammond Stadium at the Lee Health Sports Complex in South Fort Myers. The matchups will be livestreamed on the National Federation of State High School Associations Network.

Vero Beach will face the 26-1 Venice High School Indians at 4 p.m. on Friday. If the Fighting Indians advance to Saturday’s state championship, they’ll play the winner of the contest between Stoneman Douglas and Hagerty.

“We have a team of unsung heroes,” Rahal said. “They’re all great kids.”   

The Fighting Indians baseball team made it to the Final Four in 2024, but before that, it had been two decades since they advanced to the state level. Vero Beach has not won a state championship, but this year’s team is determined to change that.

“These kids are just gritty kids,” Rahal said. “They’re tough, they work hard, they believe, they got a ‘team-glory-first’ attitude and they’re going to try to do whatever they can to help the team win.”

“It feels good to make it to the Final Four,” said Singletary. “The coach has been preaching to us all year.”

“I’m proud he’s able to chase his dream,” said Singletary’s mother Charsea Singletary.

Pitcher J.T. McLaughlin described the opportunity to play in the state semifinals as an “awesome feeling.”

“I got to go there my sophomore year. Coming back as a senior it’s an absolute blast,” McLaughlin said. “It’s a great culture over here and a great family. I love the coaches and the team. It’s just amazing.”    

This week, the Vero squad continued preparing for the tough competition it will face this weekend as the players try to set themselves apart in the history books by being the first Vero High baseball team to win a state championship.

“I think I’m more excited about practice on Monday than I am anything else,” Rahal said last weekend.

“Give me one more week of practice!”