By Kyle Coppola
MDCA Baseball Compete in Florida League Invitational Semifinal
The MDCA Baseball team has been on a hot streak, winning their last five games in a row. Tonight, they play IMG Academy Gray in Sanford, Florida. The Bulldogs have looked their best all season and now have a chance to make it to the Championship game, which is scheduled for Friday night at 6:45 PM. The MDCA Bulldogs currently hold a 9-2 record this season.
The big matchup tonight against IMG Academy Gray at 4:45pm in Sanford will be a huge test for MDCA, who have won their last five games in a row. MDCA narrowly beat South Fork 5-4 last evening but pulled off the victory to earn a trip to the semifinals of the Florida League Invitational.
It has been a total team effort, with Cael Reish posting 13 RBIs this season along with 13 hits and scoring 10 runs. Reish also leads the team in stolen bases with 8 so far this year. Bryan Shutte has also contributed heavily on the offensive side of the ball with 13 RBIs, 13 hits, and 6 runs scored. Sophomore Jacob Hair has turned heads this year with 11 hits, 14 RBIs, and 9 runs scored.
(MDCA celebrated after a hard fought 5-4 victory against South Fork to make it to the semifinals.)
Ethan Priest has been tremendous on the mound with a 1.12 ERA in 18 innings of work. He has 25 strikeouts this year and has only given up 3 earned runs. His work on the mound has been complemented by fellow starting pitcher Jordan Livingston, who has pitched 21 innings this year with a fantastic 2.00 ERA. Livingston has 22 strikeouts on the year, having faced a team-high 90 batters so far.
Preston Smith and junior Beckham Stirling have also seen plenty of action on the mound. Smith has a 1.58 ERA in 13 innings of work, while Stirling has a 3.00 ERA in 11.2 innings. The Bulldogs will need to muster everything they can while facing IMG Academy Gray.
This has been a great opportunity for MDCA to face such tough competition. IMG comes in at 6-4, with dangerous hitters Nick Barron and Josh Campbell on their roster. MDCA will face a challenge at the plate against IMG Academy’s pitching group, which collectively only gives up 2.76 runs per game.
Good luck to the MDCA Bulldogs!
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.
