BIO

The year 1988 marked several athletic milestones at Barnstable High School, including varsity baseball coach Dean Boger’s 100th career victory, but no individual athletic accomplishment that spring could compare with senior righthander Whitney Floren’s record-breaking 12 victories on the pitching mound.

Leading Barnstable through the state tournament with four straight victories, Floren’s golden right arm hit the radar gun at upwards of 93-94 miles per hour as the Red Raiders romped in miraculous fashion over the likes of Durfeem Bridgewater-Raynham, South Weymouth and Waltham en route to the Red & White’s first Eastern Massachusetts Division I state crown since 1965. Floren’s 15-strikeout, 151-pitch gem over Waltham in the EMass finals in Melrosin 95-degree heat, to go along with a three-run homer at the plate, was a single baseball performance not seen in decades.

Finishing the campaign at 20-3, with a tough, 7-2 loss to Leominster in the Division I State Championship, Floren capped off a brilliant BHS career by batting .431, belting three homers and collecting 20 RBI to go along with his 12-2 record on the mound. All totalled, Floren fanned 108 batters in 64 innings of work during the regular season, while only walking 37. He also had two saves in relief.

On the football field, Floren was a bone-jarring linebacker for coach Mark Titus and a punishing running back and quarterback, helping lead the Red Raiders to Titus’ greatest campaign in 1987 with an 8-1-1 record. Inducted into the BHS Athletic Hall of Fame, Nov. 26, 2009

— Photo Courtesy of The Floren Family