May 2, 2025
Umatilla High School Baseball Team Advance To FHSAA Class 3A Regional Final Series
By Kyle Coppola
Umatilla High School Baseball Team Advance To FHSAA Class 3A Regional Final Series
UMATILLA, Fla. — Umatilla High School is headed to the FHSAA Class 3A Regional Final after pulling off a stunning 3-2 upset over top-seeded South Sumter High on Thursday night.
Behind a dominant complete-game performance from pitcher Keegan St. Amant, who threw seven innings and recorded four strikeouts, the Bulldogs advanced to the next round and will now host Hernando High in a best-of-three series beginning May 5 at 7 p.m., with Game 2 scheduled for May 6, also at 7 p.m.
(Keegan St. Amant pitched one of the best games of his high school career last night. The Umatilla crowd, the team and everyone was behind him all night long and he delivered an amazing performance.)
For a while last night it looked as though the winner would play The Villages but a late bottom of the 7th inning grand slam walk-off won the game for Hernando High and now Umatilla being the #5 seed gets to host Hernando who is the #7 seed.
South Sumter, which entered the postseason as the No. 1 seed, saw its season come to a heartbreaking end despite a strong showing in the tightly contested matchup. The Bulldogs’ win was fueled by key offensive contributions from Nick Sande, who crossed the plate twice, and Stephen Huckeba, who also added a run. Tate Bagwell and Dominick Mathe each delivered crucial RBIs to keep the pressure on the Raiders.
Umatilla high now stands one step away from the state tournament. The Bulldogs will have home-field advantage in the Regional Final against a tough Hernando squad. They will hope to win two games in a row and rest up for a state championship run. Doing so will be difficult. Hernando has a deep roster and this series is going to be incredible to watch.
Congratulations poured in from the community following the win. Umatilla and South Sumter are both old school programs. Generations of families have attended those schools and there was a lot of pride on the line last night. While we are sad to see South Sumter High’s season come to an end. What a year it was for them which included the school’s first District Championship in a very long time.
(Umatilla is now just 2 wins away from headed to Fort Myers to compete for a State Championship!)
One thing is for certain. Both South Sumter and Umatilla High School baseball programs are back and will be contenders for years to come. The FHSAA Class 3A Regional Final runs through Umatilla! What a thrill that will be.
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.
