March 11, 2025
Wyatt Strawbridge’s Stellar Season Fuels Umatilla High’s Baseball Success
By Kyle Coppola
Wyatt Strawbridge’s Stellar Season Fuels Umatilla High’s Baseball Success
UMATILLA, Fla. — Senior pitcher Wyatt Strawbridge has been dominant on the mound and clutch at the plate, playing a key role in Umatilla High School’s strong season following its first district championship in 22 years.
Through 18 innings pitched this season, Strawbridge has been nearly untouchable, racking up a team-high 29 strikeouts while boasting an impressive 1.17 ERA. He has surrendered just three earned runs all year, proving to be the Bulldogs’ go-to arm in crucial matchups.
(Strawbridge leads the team in strikeouts. Photo Credit – Umatilla Baseball.)
Strawbridge’s impact isn’t limited to the mound—he’s been a force at the plate as well. Hitting .360 on the season, he has collected nine hits, four RBIs, and eight runs scored. His ability to get on base has been just as valuable, ranking second on the team with a .529 on-base percentage.
But Strawbridge has been getting plenty of help from players like Sophomore Nick Sande who is having a fantastic sophomore campaign. Sande has pitched 19.1 innings and has 24 strikeouts and a team leading .036 ERA. This young player has given up only 1 run all season long. Keegan St. Amant has also been great. The junior has pitched 15.2 innings surrendering just 3 earned runs and has 16 strikeouts with both Sande and St. Amant contributing heavily in the batters box as well.
(Keegan St. Amant has been great on the mound for Umatilla High this season. Photo Credit – Umatilla Baseball.)
Tate Bagwell, Aidan Ross and Dominick Mathe lead Umatill with 10 hits a piece. A big shoutout to Aidan Ross who leads the team with a team leading 10 stolen bases this season. Ross is one of the fastest players in Lake County and has shown his speed this season.
Led by head coach Tanner Clark, Umatilla is riding the momentum of last season’s historic district title run. The Bulldogs are off to a 6-4 start. Tonight there is a very intriguing matchup as Umatilla High plays MDCA in what should be a terrific contest to watch. Despite MDCA being 3-8 they have played a very difficult schedule to start the year. The game is at MDCA and starts at 6:30pm.
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.
