By Kyle Coppola
Red-Hot: Lake Minneola High Baseball Takes 7 out of Last 8 Games
The Lake Minneola Baseball team has found their groove as the Hawks have won 3 in a row and are winners of 7 out of their last 8 games. The recent 12-5 win against Leesburg on Friday evening was a dominant performance by the Hawks, who continue to impress.
(Jacob Cali rounds third base and heads home. Cali would score 3 runs for Lake Minneola. Joe Ott Photography)
Lake Minneola scored runs in every single inning other than the 1st inning where it was 0-0. The Hawks scored 1 run in the 2nd, 1 in the 3rd, and 2 in the 4th to make it 4-1 headed into the 5th inning. In the bottom of the 5th, that is where Lake Minneola exploded offensively with a 5-run 5th inning. Leesburg tried to recover in the top of the 6th, making it a 9-5 game, but The Hawks scored 3 more runs in the bottom of the 6th to take the 12-5 win.
It was a huge night for sophomore Fabian Antonsanti, who recorded 3 hits, 2 doubles, and 2 RBIs while scoring 2 runs. Jose Taveras also had a massive night with 1 hit, 2 runs scored, and 3 RBIs to go along with his home run. Senior Bryan Castellanos had a huge night as well with 3 hits, 2 RBIs, and a double.
(Jose Taveras also had a massive night with 1 hit, 2 runs scored, and 3 RBIs to go along with his home run. JOE OTT PHOTOGRAPY)
Overall, it was an amazing performance for Lake Minneola against Leesburg. Lake Minneola went through 4 pitchers during the game. Colson May had 5 strikeouts and gave up hits. He was credited with 4 earned runs. He was relieved by Parker Hill, Nick Jackson, and Brandon Hahnke, who rotated the final few innings to help the Hawks grab the win.
(Senior Bryan Castellanos had a huge night with 3 hits, 2 RBI’s and a home run. JOE OTT PHOTOGRAPY)
It was a team effort from Lake Minneola. That was the 7th win in the last 8 games for the Hawks. This team seems to be peaking at the right time this season. With districts right around the corner, Lake Minneola is looking to make a run at a district championship this year.
The Hawks face Trinity Prep tonight, Poinciana on Tuesday, and East Ridge on Thursday evening. All those teams do have losing records, so Lake Minneola could pile some wins on this week. East Ridge is always a fun rivalry game, so Thursday night should be a fun one. Next week, the final games of the regular season schedule are against Dr. Phillips on the 23rd and Osceola on the 25th.
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.
