AVON PARK, Fla. (Baseball) – Over the weekend, the Lake-Sumter State College (LSSC) baseball team met up with Sun-Lakes Conference South Florida State College for the second time this season. South Florida State won two of three to take the series.

Game One – Lake-Sumter 5, South Florida State 23

South Florida State made a statement in game one defeating the Lakehawks by mercy rule 23-5. The game was close for the first few innings with Lake-Sumter leading 5-2 headed to the fourth inning.

In the top of the fourth the Panthers put eight runs on the board to take the lead and did not stop there. South Florida State added one in fifth, three in the six, and nine more runs in the seventh while holding the Lakehawks to just five runs.

Carson Russell led the offense in game one going 2-for-3 with a two-run homerun. Auston Chisenhall was 1-for-2 with two walks and one run scored.

Starting pitcher Tyler Toro recorded the loss on the mound with three innings pitched. Toro allowed seven runs on five hits with one strikeout.

Game Two – Lake-Sumter 2, South Florida State 5

The Lakehawks traveled to Avon Park, Fla. for the double header on Saturday morning.

The Panthers had a 5-0 lead after the bottom of the fifth inning. Lake-Sumter put one run up in the sixth and again in the seventh but it was not enough to secure a come-from-behind win.

Dannon Smith and Kendal Spencer each had two hits with one RBI.

Starting pitcher Max Windham recorded the loss with 5.2 innings pitched falling to 4-3 on the season. Windham allowed five runs on seven hits with two strikeouts.

Preston James entered to pitch in the sixth inning to record the final out of the game with a strikeout.

Game Three – Lake-Sumter 7, South Florida State 3

In game three, Lake-Sumter secured a big come-from-behind win after scoring six runs in the top of the ninth.

South Florida State scored in the third, fourth, fifth to maintain a 3-0 lead for most of the game.

In the top of the ninth, Lake-Sumter kicked into gear after Ryan Monaghan led off the inning with a solo homerun.

With Chisenhall and Windham on base, Russell added another run with an RBI single to centerfield. Smith and Jacob Delano followed with back-to-back two-run doubles to win the game.

Starting pitcher Sebastian Miller threw the first four innings. Miller held the Panther offense to just two runs on three hits with one strikeout.

Nate Tinder recorded the win with five innings pitched moving to 2-1 on the season. Tinder allowed just one run on three hits with three strikeouts.

For the season, Lake-Sumter and South Florida State split their two matchups 3-3. The Lakehawks currently sit fifth in conference play while the Panthers are ranked third.

Lake-Sumter moved to 17-27 overall and 7-14 in conference play.  

Up next for the Lakehawks

Lakehawk baseball will host A3 Acadmey on Wednesday, April 12 at 3:00 p.m. Live stream video and statistics will be available to those who cannot attend.  

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