By Kyle Coppola
Lake Minneola Baseball Off To Dominant Start of Season
The Lake Minneola Baseball team won a thrilling match against Windermere just a week ago. The Hawks emerged victorious with a narrow 3-2 win in a pitchers’ duel.
After a week-long break for spring break, the Hawks are set for a cross-town showdown against East Ridge High, aiming to maintain their impressive season momentum. Currently boasting a 7-3 record and ranked #29 in Class 6A, Lake Minneola has established itself as a force to be reckoned with this season. Despite some challenging losses against The Villages and Forest there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about the season.
Lake Minneola has some very impressive batters this season including Jake Cali, Rylan Zinn, and Josh Schaller, along with rising star, sophomore Fabian Antonsanti who is leading the team in hits and runs scored.
Antonsanti, with a batting average of .353, has been a standout performer with 12 hits, 10 runs scored, and 5 RBIs, including 2 home runs. Supporting him is Jake Cali, hitting .345 with 10 hits and 9 RBIs, showcasing both consistency and power at the plate.
On the basepaths, Rylan Zinn’s speed has been a game-changer with 7 steals, 9 hits, and 8 runs scored, adding a dynamic element to the team’s offense. Zinn has found himself in scoring position a lot this year which has helped the Hawks maintain leads.
The pitching staff has been equally impressive, with Josh Schaller boasting a 2.26 ERA and 26 strikeouts, while Jake Cali has been dominant with a 1.21 ERA and 22 strikeouts, contributing significantly to the team’s defensive strength. Both pitchers are also great batters with each contributing to the Hawks offense this season. The pitching staff has been great, only giving up 25 runs all season to some very stout competition.
Despite facing formidable opponents like Forest and East River in a tough district, Lake Minneola has secured notable wins against teams like Eustis, Dr. Phillips, and Windermere, showcasing their ability to compete at a high level. Those are all quality wins.
Looking ahead, the Hawks’ upcoming schedule includes crucial matchups against Lecanto, Tavares, East Ridge, Osceola and others. With a talented roster and a hunger for success, Lake Minneola is poised to make a strong push for a district championship. Don’t forget this team has been to the FHSAA Regional Semi-Finals two years in a row. This team made the jump up from Class 5A last year to Class 6A. They proved that jumping up a class did not matter as they won a district championship against East River last year in a nail bitter.
We are very much looking forward to seeing what this team is made of down the home stretch of the regular season.
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.
