May 13, 2025
Lake-Sumter State College Baseball Team Celebrate First Winning Season In Over Decade
By Kyle Coppola
Lake-Sumter State College Baseball Team Celebrate First Winning Season In Over Decade
LEESBURG, Fla. — The Lake-Sumter State College baseball team made history in 2025, posting its first winning season in more than a decade and reaching new heights with a 30-26 record.
The Lakehawks’ turnaround campaign marks their first winning season since 2013 and their first 30-win season in program history. Their postseason run ended with a second-place finish in the FCSAA Division II Baseball Championship. This was the first playoff appearance since 2018 and the Lakehawks made the most of it!
(The Lakehawks hoist the Runner-Up Trophy. They would lose to Pasco-Hernando State College in the championship game. Photo Credit LSSC.)
This season was about belief, development, and setting a new standard for Lakehawk Baseball. We are so proud of this team for what they accomplished and the future looks promising.
Along with the team’s success, five sophomore standouts will continue their baseball careers at four-year institutions:
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Ean Gimson is headed to Eckerd College
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Andrew Merchant and Rodney Sesler will play for New College of Florida
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Ricky O’Dette is bound for Saint Leo University
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Eli Thurmond will join Florida Southern University
Head coach Rich Billings and his staff did an incredible job with this program this 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.
