By Kyle Coppola
Lake Minneola Baseball Pick Up 13-5 Win Against Leesburg High
“The Lake Minneola Hawks had no problem taking care of business against Leesburg last night in a 13-5 victory. Leesburg kept things interesting through 3 innings with the score tied at 4-4, but that’s when Lake Minneola would take off.
The Hawks scored 5 runs in the top of the 4th inning. Fabian Antonsanti had a terrific night with 3 hits, 2 RBIs, and scored 2 runs. Junior Jacob Cali also had a great night with 2 RBIs, 1 hit, and 1 run scored. Shosh Schaller scored 2 runs, with Tyler Pierre scoring another 2 runs. Colson May, Levi Stone, Malachi Meyers, Rylan Zinn, and Chase Dougherty would also score runs on the evening.
(Fabian Antonsanti turns for home Photo Credit – JOE OTT PHOTOGRAPY)
For Leesburg, it was Braylin Cronin and David Martinis who had decent nights, but once Lake Minneola pitcher Tristan Rocha settled in, The Yellow Jackets had a difficult time getting runners on base.
Rocha pitched 4 innings, surrendering 5 runs with 1 strikeout and 5 hits. While the night started off on a rough note, Rocha settled in after the 1st inning and pitched a steady game the rest of the way. He was relieved by junior Parker Hill, who pitched nearly flawlessly. Hill only gave up 2 hits and had 2 strikeouts in 2 innings pitched. Junior Braden Richter also saw action and pitched 1 inning at the end. He struck out 2 as Lake Minneola cruised to a 13-5 victory.
(Tyler Pierre takes a ground ball and throws to first base. Photo Credit – JOE OTT PHOTOGRAPY)
The win was the 3rd in a row for Lake Minneola. They will next travel to Osceola on Thursday evening before a Friday home matchup against Tavares to end the week. The Hawks look as dominant as they have all season at the plate.
The Hawks have settled in nicely. Since taking a 5-4 loss against East Ridge on March 19th, it’s like the Hawks are playing much better as a unit. In the past three games, the pitching crew has only given up an average of 3 runs per game. That has allowed the bats to go to work. Lake Minneola can score quickly and will make you pay for it.
Tough games are on the schedule next week, including South Lake and Lecanto. The Tavares game on Friday night will certainly be worth coming out for if you’re in Lake County and want to catch some action.”
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.
