WHS Baseball Wins Back-to-Back Titles, Has Sights on a Win at States

The Windermere Wolverines are back-to-back District Champions after a 12-0 routing of Lake Nona on Thursday. The Wolverines also won back-to-back Metro Tournaments on April 21 against Apopka 6-2. Their current record sits at 23-3-1, with the one tie coming from a late inning game against Olympia that was called due to loss of visibility at sunset. 

Prior to the start of the season, Coach Eric Lassiter stated that the team’s goal was to “win a district title and have a chance to compete for a regional championship.” And this is exactly what they have done.  Coach Lassiter has been impressed with his team’s performance on the field.  “I’m really proud of this team’s resiliency, there were lots of question marks leading into the season, like how would we replace our senior leadership, run production on offense and losing one of our top starters on the mound. And our guys answered the bell.” 

When asked what the secret to their success this season has been, Lassiter explained, “We play as a complete team, love each other, and do whatever their specific role is to the best of their ability without complaints. We have several guys who could start on other teams in our area and they never hang their head or gripe about their role. That’s what makes teams great is a buy-in from the whole team to fight for one common goal. And I’m proud of our team for the buy-in.” There’s no question based on their performance up and down the roster, the Windermere Wolverines are a complete baseball team.

By the Numbers

Windermere’s high powered offense includes a number of big name college recruits. Holden Brauner (Tennessee) leads the team in Hits (33) and RBIs (33) and is among the leaders in Batting Average (.379), Home Runs (5) and Slugging (.632). Ty Head (North Carolina State) leads the team in On Base Percentage (.549), Stolen Bases (19) and Runs (37). Juan Lopez (Dayton) leads the way in Home Runs (7) and Slugging (.732). Lopez also leads the team in Fielding Percentage (.986). Jack Waddingham (Stetson) leads the team in Batting Average (.380). Notably, there are seven players with hitting over .300 in the Wolverines lineup. 

Not to be outdone by the bats, Wolverines pitchers have been impressive this season as well. Blayke Rabens has a 6-1 record  with a 1.78 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 39.1 innings of work. Cannon Feazell (Clemson) has thrown 46 innings, striking out 33 batters and posting a staggeringly low 1.07 ERA. Sophomore Connor Fink has also thrown 29.1 innings with a 2.39 ERA and 29 strikeouts with a 5-1 record. Cruz Warp (USF) has given up just one earned run in 16 innings of work (0.44 ERA) with 23 strikeouts. 

In addition, the Wolverines have a number of other strong players with college commitments, including: Gueillermo Yepes (Albany State), Jack Sanchez (Palm Beach State College), Justin Grant (College of Central Florida) and Osjun Rivas (Dayton).

The Road to Fort Myers 

Prep Baseball Report has the Wolverines ranked #16 overall in their power rankings. This means they have held steady in their eyes over the course of the season, moving up from the #18 spot in the pre-season.  The Wolverines landed a number two seed in the Class 7A bracket.

Regionals will begin this weekend with a rematch against Lake Nona at 4:30pm on Wednesday at WHS. This Wolverines team is well positioned to make a deep run into the playoffs and continue to build on their reputation as one of the premiere baseball programs in the state. The FHSAA Class 7A State Semifinals and Championship Game take place May 23-24 at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers. 

Good luck, team! Let’s Go Wolverines!

About the Author

Brian Koss is a community contributor for Horizon West Happenings. He is a teacher at Sunset Park Elementary (Lakeside Village) and lives with his wife and four children in the Seidel Area. Brian is also the Managing Editor and Podcast Co-Host at Legends On Deck, a Florida-based baseball website.