Lakehawks Take Down No. 1, Twice

Leesburg, Fla. – The Lake-Sumter State College baseball team continues their excellent start to Conference play by knocking off NJCAA No.1 ranked Central Florida in 2 out of 3 games over the weekend.

After defeating Florida State College – Jacksonville March 13, the Lakehawks hit a two game skid against the Blue Wave. In the following two games, LSSC was outscored 17-6. Moving their conference record to 4-4 with the NJCAA Poll No. 1 team in the nation next on the schedule.

The Patriots dropped their opening game of the season to Palm Beach State in 10 innings. Since then, Central Florida has gone on a 22 game win streak and entered the series against Lake-Sumter having won 28 of their last 30 ball games. Not to mention being at the top of the Mid-Florida Conference standings.

CF jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning of game one. Matt Coles then settled in on the hill for the Lakehawks and dealt his way through the next seven innings. Coles managed to keep one of the best offenses in the country quiet as the LSSC bats started to come alive. Knotted up, 3-3, the game headed into the bottom of the seventh. Kobie Leonard reached on a walk, but the team was down to two outs. Leonard moved up to second on a wild pitch and came around to score on a single off the bat of Brody Rubenstein to put his team up, 4-3. Coles took to the mound and tossed a scoreless eighth inning. The starter then gave way to the bullpen in the form of Bryant Heston. The closer allowed just one base runner while recording one strikeout in his second save of the season. Coles record moves to 4-1 on the year.

Game two was on the road in Ocala and the Patriots put their offense on full display. The mercy rule was implemented in the seventh with CF defeating the Lakehawks, 13-5.

The third game was back at the Hawks Nest on Saturday. Not to be outdone, Lake-Sumter came out swinging in the first two innings of the game for a total of nine runs on eight hits to take a 9-1 lead heading into the third. The two big offensive innings were all starter Jake Janata needed to get him through the game. Janata tossed all seven innings in the mercy rule victory, striking out six and allowing just two earned runs in the team's 10-2 win. The freshman is now 3-1 on the year. Gabriel Dorsey had a big game going 2 for 4 with a home run and three RBI's. Conner Andrews also drove in two with a double in the gap.

Lake-Sumter (17-15-1, 6-5) are sitting tied for third in the conference standings. Next up for the Lakehawks will be two non-conference matchups before starting a series with Seminole State College Saturday.