Lakehawk Baseball Takes Opening Weekend Series

CLEARWATER, Fla. (Baseball) – The Lake-Sumter State College (LSSC) baseball team opened 2026 with three games against St. Petersburg College. The Lakehawks took two of three from the Titans to secure their first non-conference series of the season.

Game 1 – St. Petersburg 13, Lake-Sumter 14

The Lakehawks and Titans shook things up to start the season with a back-and-forth battle to find a win in game one. The Titans took a two-run lead in the fourth before the Lakehawks took it back 5-2 in the fifth.

In the sixth and seventh innings, the Titans extended their lead 13-6. The Lakehawks added two runs to the board in the bottom of the seventh, still trailing the Titans for the remainder of the game.

Mason Blackburn led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo homerun.

From there, the Lakehawks rallied. Hunter Wallace and Hayden Harrison both walked and advanced around the bases on a pair of balks.

Wallace scored and Harrison on third for Alex Galan to step up with a sac fly.

The Lakehawks loaded the bases with two walks and an error from the Titan infield. Noah Morales drew a walk scoring Osjun Rivas, bringing the Lakehawks within one run of the six-run lead.

A basehit from Brady Byers scored two, giving the Lakehawks their first walkoff win of the season.

Byers and Thomas Velardi both went 3-for-6. Byers added two RBIs and two runs scored.

Blackburn, Harrison, and Galan each added two RBIs each in the win.

Jacob James recorded the win on the mound after closing out the ninth. He threw a perfect three strikeout inning.

Game 2 – St. Petersburg 0, Lake-Sumter 11

The Lakehawks took the lead in the top of the second after a Osjun Rivas drew a walk with the bases loaded.

Byers added a run to the board with a sacrifice bunt turned infield base hit before a three-run homerun by Harrison to extend the Lakehawk lead 5-0.

In the fifth, Rivas singled to right field scoring two more runs. In the seventh, the Lakehawks added four more to the board.

The Titans went three-up three-down in the bottom of the seventh for the Lakehawks to secure the win.

Harrison went 3-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBIs. Velardi, Byers, and Bruno Vazquez had two hits each.

Starter Corey Peters recorded his first win on the mound with 4.0 shutout innings pitched. He allowed just two hits with three strikeouts.

Austin MacCardle, Braylon Reynante, and JD Aragort all contributed to the shutout with one inning pitched each. MacCardle and Aragort each had two strikeouts and allowed zero hits.

Game 3 – St. Petersburg 15, Lake-Sumter 13

The Titans took the lead in game three in the bottom of first. The Lakehawks answered back with two runs in the top of the second before a 12-run bottom half from St. Petersburg secured the lead for the game.

The Lakehawks chipped away at the lead while holding the Titans at 13 runs, but were unable to overcome the deficit.

At leadoff, Galan went 4-for-4 with three runs scored. Blackburn and Vazquez had three hits each.

Robert Kohler went 2-for-3 with four RBIs and one run scored. Harrison went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and three runs scored.

Theo DeCicco recorded the loss on the mound with 1.1 innings pitched. He allowed seven runs, six earned on six hits.

Lake-Sumter moves to 2-1 to open the season. The Lakehawks will be back at home on Tuesday, Jan. 27 against Tallahassee State College at 2:00 p.m.

Watch the games live online here.

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