Baseball Game Preview: South Lake Eagles vs. Umatilla Bulldogs

The South Lake Eagles will head out on the road to challenge the Umatilla Bulldogs at 6:00 p.m. on Friday. South Lake is strutting in with some hitting muscle as they've averaged 7.2 runs per game this season.

South Lake will roll into the contest after a wild two-game stretch: they only put up one run on Tuesday, then bounced right back against East Ridge on Thursday. South Lake put the hurt on East Ridge with a sharp 13-2 win. The Eagles haven't had any issues with the Knights recently, as the game was their third consecutive victory against them.

Z Siokis

Batters Struck Out (Career)

03/20/25 @ East Ridge	9
03/03/25 vs Haines City	4
02/14/25 vs Belleview	4
03/12/25 @ Pine Ridge	3
02/27/25 vs South Sumter	3

Z Siokis made a big impact while hitting and pitching. He struck out nine batters over seven innings while giving up just two earned runs off four hits. Those nine strikeouts gave him a new career-high. He was also big at the plate, scoring three runs and stealing a base while going 1-for-3. He is becoming a predictor of South Lake's success: when he posts at least two runs the team is 5-1 (and 4-6 when he doesn't).

In other batting news, J Brown was incredible, scoring two runs while going 4-for-4. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in RBI (three). C Weaver was another key player, scoring three runs while going 3-for-5.

South Lake kept the outfield on their toes and finished the game with 15 hits. That's the most hits they've managed all season.

Meanwhile, after soaring to ten runs the game before, Umatilla was a bit more limited in their matchup on Tuesday. They came up short against Eustis, falling 8-2.

Tate Bagwell made the most of his time at bat despite the final result and went 1-for-3 with one triple, one run, and one RBI.

Umatilla's loss dropped their record down to 7-6. As for South Lake, their record is now 9-7.