Men's Baseball
The men’s baseball team (29-20, 17-10) remains tied for first place in the Sun-Lakes Conference with St. Johns River State (33-19, 17-10) after sweeping Lake Sumter State College (25-24, 13-13) this weekend. The team received strong pitching from Michael Savarese in the 7-3 win at Lake Sumter on Friday, April 19. In Saturday’s home doubleheader, Chris Arroyo shut down the Lakehawks in the 2-1 win and Gabriel Garcia closed out the series with a 10-3 win. Arroyo also had the big bat going 6 for 11 (.545) with a double, four home runs and eight RBIs in the three games. This sets the stage for the final conference series with St. Johns River this week. The team travels to Palatka on Thursday, April 25 for a 5 p.m. game before hosting the Vikings in Friday’s 3 p.m. doubleheader. The winner of the series will host the Sun-Lakes Conference tournament that runs May 2-5.
Women's Softball
The women’s softball team (22-24, 13-15) season will be on the line this week after losing two of three games to Lake Sumter State (27-26, 13-14) this weekend. The Bobcats got off to a good start by defeating the Lakehawks 1-0 on Friday, April 19 at the West Campus. Jayda Smith pitched a masterful game allowing only two hits and striking out four in the game. On Saturday in Leesburg, the Bobcats fell 3-0 in the first game of the doubleheader despite another strong performance by Jayda Smith and lost 9-4 in game two. Kaitlyn Buckley and Riley Collins each had two hits in that game. The Bobcats finish the regular season at first-place St. Johns River State (41-14, 23-4) this weekend. The Vikings have already clinched a trip to the District Tournament in Alabama with two spots remaining. South Florida State is currently in second place one-half game ahead of the Bobcats and Lakehawks. It will come down to Saturday’s doubleheaders to determine the other conference representatives.
Cross Country
In cross country news we had three Bobcats complete the 128th running of the Boston Marathon last week. Sophomore Tom Palamar completed the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours and 35 minutes, followed by our men’s head coach Lee Rietsma in 3:11:54 and women’s head coach Jacki Waller in 3:28:40. The weather was rather warm for the race, but amazing times for all three.