Baseball Preview: Lecanto Panthers vs. Lake Minneola Hawks
The Lecanto Panthers will head out on the road to take on the Lake Minneola Hawks at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday. Both teams come into the matchup bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Last Tuesday, Lecanto got the win against Weeki Wachee by a conclusive 7-1. That looming 7-1 mark stands out as the most commanding margin for Lecanto yet this season.
Dylan Czerwinski made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He looked comfortable on the mound, pitching seven innings while giving up just one earned run off five hits (he also only allowed one walk). Czerwinski was also big at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI.
In other batting news, the team relied heavily on Garrett Pitzer, who scored two runs and stole a base while going 2-for-4. Nick Sloane was another key contributor, going 2-for-3 with two RBI and a double.
Meanwhile, Lake Minneola narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past South Lake 4-3.
Lake Minneola's victory was truly a team effort as four different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Jacob Cali, who went 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Cali has been nothing but reliable on the mound: he hasn't given up more than two walks in seven consecutive pitching appearances.
The win made it two in a row for Lecanto and bumps their season record up to 7-10. As for Lake Minneola, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six games, which provided a nice bump to their 12-5 record this season.
The batters for both teams will have to hit smart on Thursday as both teams have some strikeout artists on the roster. Lecanto has been retiring batters left and right this season, having averaged 7.1 strikeouts per game. However, it's not like Lake Minneola struggles in that department as they've been averaging 7.8. Considering how easily both teams rack up Ks, the hitters on both teams better bring their A-game into this one.
Lecanto came up short against Lake Minneola in their previous meeting back in March, falling 4-1. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Lake Minneola's Brady Montrowl, who struck out eight batters over 2.2 innings while giving up no earned runs off one hit (and only one walk). Now that Lecanto knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
