Venice Stretches Win Streak To NHSI Finals Return

The Venice Indians following their championship victory at the Inaugural Venice Spring Classic. Photo from @veniceindiansbaseball.com.

A season ago the Venice Indians claimed the championship at the National High School Invitational, an annual showdown of many of the top high school baseball teams in the country that is hosted by USA Baseball and played at the National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. After becoming the third Florida team to ever win the tournament since its start in 2012, this week Venice became the only club from the Sunshine State to return and advance back to a second straight title game.

Winning again was the most perfectly-scripted conclusion possible. Venice returned to Cary this year with a perfect 16-0 record, a #1 national ranking, and fresh off of a championship victory in the very first Venice Spring Break Classic. Following a pair of blowout, shutout wins, and a comeback victory in the semifinals, the Indians found themselves poised for a storybook ending. But that’s not how baseball always goes, and instead Venice fell 7-6 to the Orange Lutheran Lancers.

While Venice (19-1) suffers the sting of a loss for the first time this season, Orange Lutheran reclaims its title as the ultimate champions of the NHSI. The Lancers have now won four titles at the event, after also winning three straight from 2017 to 2019. They also avenge a loss to Corona, California, in the 2024 title game, while earning the tenth overall championship for a California team.

The other three titles in tournament history all belong to Florida teams, as Venice was preceded by the Douglas Eagles in 2022 and The First Academy in 2012. Mater Dei, California, is the only other repeat champion, having won the first two championships in 2012 and 2013, both over Harvard-Westlake, California.

The Indians celebrate after receiving the championship trophy at the 2025 NHSI. Photo from @veniceindiansbaseball.com.

The Lancers are now 24-3 all-time at the NHSI, but the Venice Indians have been equally successful in going 7-1 over the past two events. Venice opened with a lopsided 10-0 win over Gloucester Catholic, New Jersey, and then followed that up with a 12-0 walloping of Harvard-Westlake, a program with its own extensive history of success at the NHSI. In the semifinals against the Baylor School of Tennessee, the Indians found themselves trailing 1-0 midway and then rallied for two runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings to return to the finale off a 4-1 victory.

Although the comeback bid fell short, the Indians managed to overcome a shaky start that found them trailing 5-0 after two innings. Orange Lutheran tacked on another for a 6-0 lead in the fourth, before Venice got the offense to finally respond in the bottom of the frame. R.J. Shields and Carter Cox strung together a pair of singles, and Beau Daniel got his team on the scoreboard with an RBI single to left. Randall Riley’s liner to center plated another to cut the deficit to 6-2.

Venice tacked on another run in the fifth. Kohen Poplin singled, August Backman walked and then Graham Houston was hit by a pitch that loaded the bases. Johnny Mauro then came through with a sac-fly RBI on a fly ball deep to left that allowed Kohen to tag up and score.

After the Lancers grabbed the final, crucial run in the top of the sixth to go up 7-3, the Indians rallied one last time with three more runs to pull within one run of tying it back up. Cox and Daniel both walked and Maddox Volk singled to load the bases. Kohen Poplin was hit by a pitch, earning an RBI the hard way, and Backman plated another with an RBI base hit to right. Houston followed with an RBI single, before a flyout ended the rally.

Venice managed a pair of base runners in the seventh on walks to Daniel and Riley, but the Lancers recorded a strikeout to the final batter to hang on for the victory.

The 2019 Venice Indians celebrate their state championship, the second of two straight titles. Will the 2026 season bring another title back to Venice?

With so much at stake, it is not an easy defeat for Venice. But thankfully, the season is not over. With the 2026 FHSAA playoffs just a few short weeks away, it is incomprehensible that the Indians would not be a part of it. Although it is possible that they could be upset in the District 7A-8 tournament, it seems totally unfathomable that a wild card bid would not then be available to them. The Indians clearly earned their ranking.

Make no mistake, the Venice Indians will be in the 7A playoffs, and they will be a force to be reckoned with. After shattering all their own program records, and grabbing national attention while locking horns with the best in the nation, the Indians will certainly be a tough team to get past in the playoff bracket.

There had been a lot of question as to whether or not the Venice Indians would feel the sting of even one loss this season. Now the question is, will they ever happen to feel it again?

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