April 14, 2025
Lake & Sumter County High School Baseball District Tournament Preview 2025

By Kyle Coppola
Lake & Sumter County High School Baseball District Tournament Preview 2025

🔹 Class 1A – District 6
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#1 Mount Dora Christian Academy (MDCA) vs. #4 Seven Rivers Christian
📅 April 15th | 🕖 7:00 PM(MDCA may have a losing record of 11-13 but they have played a very difficult schedule this season. Air Force Commit Ethan Priest has been great this year pitching 43.2 innings and striking out 57 batters. Junior Jacob Calton leads the team in RBIs with 29. Sophomore Britton Wise leads MDCA with a .451 Batting Average and 37 hits along with a team leading 25 runs scored. Jayden Wise leads the team with 7 home runs on the year.)
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#2 First Academy-Leesburg vs. #3 St. John Lutheran
📅 April 15th | 🕔 4:00 PM
Winners will meet in the championship game later in the week.(Despite a three-game losing streak FA-Leesburg has been impressive in Class 1A. Collin Herrell who is a senior leads FA-Leesburg with a .527 average along with 29 hits, 22 RBI’s and 21 runs scored. Senior Cason Cherry has also contributed much with a .444 average with 24 hits and 24 runs scored.)
🔹 Class 3A – District 6
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#2 The Villages  vs. #3 Umatilla High
📅 April 15th | 🕖 7:00 PM
A high-stakes showdown for both teams. Winner advances to face either North Marion or Atlantic High. Both teams could potentially get into the FHSAA Playoffs if they lose with an at-large-bid. The Villages are in a little better shape than Umatilla which is currently #27 in Class 3A while The Villages is #19. For Umatilla High the season could be on the line. If they lose it will be a challenging road to get into the playoffs but much can happen. This is among the most important District Semifinal matchups we have as far as the postseason goes. If you are a fan of baseball come out and watch this game.
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#1 North Marion or #4 Atlantic High School
📅 April 17th | 🕕 6:00 PM(North Marion is the heavy favorite. Unless Atlantic can pull a big upset, the district championship will run through North Marion High School.)
🔹 Class 3A – District 7
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#1 South Sumter High vs. #4 Crystal River
📅 April 15th | 🕖 7:00 PM
The Raiders are favorites to win their first district title in years. Mali Boone has been terrific this season with 7 home runs on the year. Jackson Gill has been stellar on the mound. At 18-4 this is one of the best South Sumter High School baseball teams we have seen in a long time. -
#2 Nature Coast Tech vs. #3 Hernando
(The winner will have a massive taks and will most likely face South Sumter High for the district championship on April 17th.)
🔹 Class 4A – District 7
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#5 Tavares High vs. #4 Pine Ridge High
📅 Tonight April 14th | 🕟 4:30 PM
Winner plays powerhouse Bishop Moore. Tavares needs a lot of help to make the FHSAA Playoffs. They first need to win against Pine Ridge High and then will be tasked with pulling a massive upset against Bishop Moore. While the road to the FHSAA Playoffs is difficult don’t look past Tavares High who have shown signs of being a good baseball team this season. It all comes down to what would be an upset against Pine Ridge tonight. This is essentially an elimination game for both teams this evening. -
#1 Bishop Moore
📅 April 15th | 🕖 7:00 PM -
#2 Mount Dora High awaits in the semifinal, set to face the winner of:
#3 Eustis High vs. #6 Jones High School
📅 April 14th | 🕖 7:00 PMEustis High School needs to go out and take care of business against Jones High. This would setup a fun matchup between rivals Mount Dora High and Eustis High for a spot in the District Championship game. For Eustis the key will be doing just enough to keep the starting pitchers rested for Mount Dora High on April 15th. Eustis on paper is a much better team. If Eustis High can get up early giving as much rest to the starters as possible is a must to compete against Mount Dora High which will be an absolute must see game this week.
🔹 Class 6A – District 5
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#1 Lake Minneola High vs. #4 Evans High School @ 7pm
(Lake Minneola High has flat out dominated this year behind the arm of Brady Montrowl. At 18-7 there is a reason the Hawks are nearly ranked inside the Top 100 teams in Florida. They will face Evans High School and while Lake Minneola is the heavy favorite you can never look too far past Evans in any sport. Lake Minneola is currently #16 in the rankings in class 6A. -
#2 South Lake High vs. #3 Wekiva High @ 7pmÂ
💥 If Lake Minneola and South Lake win their semis, fans can expect a fiery district championship showdown between these local rivals. Lake Minneola have beatten South Lake twice this year but it was close each time. First thing is first. South Lake needs to handle business against Wekiva High. If they do, have they learned enough in the previous two meetings to beat Lake Minneola High? South Lake High is currently on the outside looking into the FHSAA Playoffs and will need to essentially win the District Championship if they want to make the FHSAA Playoffs. Lake Minneola is in good shape currently #16 in the standings.Â
🔹 Class 7A – District 5
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#5 East Ridge High vs. #4 Freedom High
📅 April 14th Tonight | 🕕 6:00 PM
Winner advances to face top-seeded Windermere High. This is a toss up game with the edge going to Freedom but East Ridge will be playing for their season so don’t count out the Knights this evening. This is all likely an elimination game for both teams. A loss will result in the end of the season for one. -
#1 Windermere High
📅 April 15th | 🕖 7:00 PM
🔹 Class Rural – District 7
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Wildwood Middle High vs. Williston High
📅 Tonight | 🕖 7:00 PM
Winner moves on to face Trenton High. Wildwood looks to extend their season. A loss will bring an end to the year for Wildwood. This is an elimination game for the Wildcats who need a win. -
Trenton High School
📅 Tomorrow | 🕖 7:00 PM
Kyle Coppola was born in Newton, Massachusetts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Communications from Curry College in 2016. After traveling to Florida on a family vacation, he decided he could not get enough of the warm weather and made the move from snowy Massachusetts to central Florida 8 years ago.
For the last decade Kyle has gained valuable experience in social media content creation, marketing and sales, writing, video production, sports announcing and even broadcasting for local radio stations, such as FM 102.9 in The Villages and FM 91.5 in Massachusetts. Every year he volunteers at The Villages Charter High School as a play-by-play sports announcer for the football games as well as a public address announcer for the basketball games, including the annual Battle at The Villages Tournament.
Outside the office Kyle is a husband and father to two beautiful girls along with their cat. In his spare time he likes to spend time with his family, travel, play golf and swim. He is also a huge sports junkie and even bigger motorsports fan and loves to attend racing events when he can.