The Hawks are just six games into the season and through their various performances, there have been some stellar performances.

However, outfielder Blaze Day stands out. 

Day is top 10 for all major hitting statistics and leading in multiple categories in the 4A Inland Empire so far. While the season is young, he has no plans on slowing down soon. 

He is happy to see his performance lately.

“Definitely a great feeling when you can see all of the hard work you have to put in pay off,” Day said. 

One of his teammates, pitcher and third baseman Garrett Love, said, “Blaze has been playing good and seeing the ball very well at the plate.”

While he has been consistently improving each season, the hard work does not stop in the offseason for him. He works hard to improve each and every season.

“I work with a former professional baseball player for strength training and baseball training every other day,” Day said. 

His hard work is in order to not only better himself, but also to help his team achieve their goals, since contending for a state title is no easy feat. 

Day said, “My goal is to be the best player I can and help my team go as far as we can.”

The Hawks have several seniors that are very experienced on the diamond and can help the Hawks contend for state. Last year, Lakeland fell just short, losing in a tough game against Sandpoint. If they find themselves in a similar position, hopefully, the story will be different. 

While Day has this season and his senior year of high school baseball left, that is not all he has planned. 

He has aspirations beyond high school baseball. “I’m in a very good recruiting program that’s goal is to get me where I want to go, so it’s nice to know I’ve got people in my corner. All I have to do is perform and the rest will take care of itself,” Day said.  

Down in Boise, the Hawks kicked off their season with a four-game tournament. 

The first of which started against Emmett where Day went .500 with a walk and his lone hit of the game being a home run, Lakeland went on to win 9-7. 

His batting average for the tournament was .375 and he is hitting .364 on the season so far, with OBP at .588 and four hits with six RBIs and five runs. 

While committing to play at the next level is not an easy task, people have committed out of Lakeland in the past, so Day hopes to follow suit. Senior pitcher Cam Harris has already committed to Yakima Valley College to play college ball. 

While the Hawks are off to a tough start, the future is bright. They will look to turn it around against Coeur d’Alene, Saturday at 12 and 2 PM.