LEESBURG, Fla. (Baseball) – Behind 11 hits and nine runs, the Lake-Sumter State College (LSSC) baseball team defeated St. Petersburg College (SPC) on Wednesday afternoon 9-6.

The Lakehawks took a 2-0 lead over the Titans in the bottom of the first after a pair of back-to-back singles from Elvin Figueroa and Tad Brooks.

St. Pete answered back in the top of the second inning scoring four runs on four hits while capitalizing on one Lakehawk error.

Lake-Sumter added another run to the board in the bottom of the second after a leadoff single from Luke Bentley. On an overthrow pickoff attempt from the pitcher, Bentley was able to advance to third.

A ground ball to second base from Matthew Dumas scored Bentley from third bringing the Lakehawks within one run of the Titan lead.

SPC put one more on the board before the Lakehawks took the lead back in the bottom of the sixth with a five-run rally.

With the bases loaded, Ryan Jenkins, Brooks, and Figueroa drew consecutive walks to score three runs tying up the score at 6-6.

Eli Thurmond tapped a single to the right side of the field scoring the go-ahead run followed by Dylan Bigard reaching on a fielder's choice up the middle to score the Lakehawks' eighth' run of the game.

Lake-Sumter extended their lead over Titans in the bottom of the eighth with a single from Bentley to score Colby White from third base.

The Titans were unable to manufacture runs late in the game to overcome the Lakehawks' sxith inning rally. Lake-Sumter defeated St. Pete 9-6.

Bentley went 5-for-5 with two runs scored and an RBI. Figueroa and Brooks also recorded two hits and two RBIs each.

Sophomores Jackson Raper, Preston James, and Robert Tracy teamed up on the mound for the win. Raper tossed the first five innings before James came in for relief in the bottom of the sixth.

With 2.2 innings pitched, James recorded his first win of the season allowing just one run on three hits with two strikeouts.

Tracy, the Region 8 Baseball Pitcher of the Week, took the mound in the top of the eighth inning with runners on second and third. He got the Lakehawks out of the jam, pitching 1.1 perfect innings, to record his second save of the season.

Lake-Sumter improved to 4-8-1 on the season, while SPC moved to 5-5.

Up next for the Lakehawks

Lakehawk Baseball will travel to Tallahassee Community College on Friday, Feb. 16.

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