March 6, 2024
From Classroom to Diamond: Dallas Rasmussen’s Dual Success At Tavares High School
By Kyle Coppola
From Classroom to Diamond: Dallas Rasmussen’s Dual Success At Tavares High School
Boasting a 4.28 GPA is one thing. Being one of Lake County’s top pitching prospects is another! We already knew that Dallas Rasmussen was good, but we just didn’t know how good. Well, now we know! Rasmussen has come into the 2024 baseball season and put every team in Lake County on notice! Rasmussen has pitched nearly 14 innings so far this year and has struck out 24 batters! To put that into perspective, that is nearly half the batters he has faced so far this season. Those stats will continue to change but that is a very good start to the year.
(Photo Credit – Tracey Hanson)
Rasmussen is not just crushing it on the field but off the field as well. Rasmussen has a 4.28 GPA. That is the definition of a student/athlete. He is a scholar and puts just as much effort into school as he does on the baseball field.
In his first 11 innings pitched this season, Rasmussen had an amazing ERA of just 0.64, only surrendering 1 run this season and 1 earned run. Those are terrific numbers. We knew from watching his footage during the travel baseball season that he had improved tremendously. In fact, for the 2024 season, Rasmussen will play for the Florida Freshwater Storm one of Florida’s most elite Travel Baseball programs.
Now all of that hard work is paying off. Rasmussen was one of the best pitchers in Lake County last year. During his summer season in 2023, Rasmussen pitched 23 innings with a 1.23 ERA with Florida Freshwater. He struck out 36 batters and hit .345! Rasmussen has been a dual threat in the batters box and on the mound which has certainly aided the team.
(Dallas Rasmussen was the co-MVP at Perfect GAme over the summer time. He was on the Freshwater Storm 16U team who won the Independence Showdown in 2023.)
Rasmussen has been incredibly accurate to begin the 2024 high school baseball season. He has surrendered only 1 walk and just 7 hits so far. As far as a batter, Rasmussen has 5 hits and a run scored and 3 RBIs, so he is also contributing on the offensive side of things which we knew he was fully capable of coming into the season.
Rasmussen’s coach Brandon Stratton has been getting the most out of his team this season. Sophomore Kishun Ramjeet has been exciting so far this year, as has fellow sophomore Brayden Jacobs. Both have driven in 2 RBIs, with Ramjeet leading the team in hits. This has taken much of the pressure off of Rasmussen which has allowed him to go to work on the mound.
(Photo Credit – Tracey Hanson)
“It’s an exciting time for the program. We have so many great things going on at Tavares High School. Dallas has been a tremendous asset to the school in so many ways. We are so happy to see his success,” says Tavares Athletic Director Tracey Hanson.
For Rasmussen, the competition will get tougher as the season moves on. But the Tavares Bulldogs have something really special in this kid. He has blown everyone away with his hard work ethic and commitment to the game. If you are a college scout, this is one player you have to see pitch.
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.
