Us
Print
E-mail
Rate
Gunning for No. 1
 |
| Lake City Community College catcher Roberto Perez knocks the cover off a made-up ball during practice on Monday. Perez leads the Timberwolves with a .371 average and in home runs with 15 and runs scored with 69 and is tied for the lead in RBIs with 52. JASON MATTHEW WALKER/Lake City Reporter |
Lake City baseball faces top-ranked team in the nation.
By TIM KIRBY
tkirby@lakecityreporter.com
One is just a number.
That’s the approach Lake City Community College is taking for its first-round matchup against Pensacola Junior College in the FCCAA State Baseball Tournament at Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven.
The Timberwolves (32-20) play Pensacola at 7 p.m. Friday in the fourth game of the day. The Panhandle Conference champion Pirates (41-6) are ranked No. 1 in the Florida poll and No. 1 in the NJCAA national poll.
“I’m OK with playing the No. 1 team in the nation,” LCCC head coach Tom Clark said at practice Monday. “That’s good.
“Why not play the best right out of the chute? It will give you momentum for the rest of the tournament.”
Clark knows the ranking is only a number. In 1999 his ’Wolves were ranked first in the nation and had an unsuccessful tournament run.
“We won the first game and went home the next day,” Clark said. “To be No. 1 you have got to be doing
something right, but once you get there the ranking doesn’t mean anything.”
A seven-game winning streak in the middle of the season had Lake City sitting pretty in the Mid-Florida Conference. Four losses near the end of the season cost the ’Wolves a conference championship and put the runner-up state berth in jeopardy.
Lake City closed the
season with three wins,
including the last one over
conference champion Seminole Community College to clinch second place.
“After the Santa Fe loss we were about as down as we could be,” Clark said. “We came back and won the next three. They have been through a lot mentally both on and off the field this year. I think we are well-prepared. We played a good non-
conference schedule and
having to fight the way we did to get in the playoffs should give us good momentum.”
Two-time all-conference catcher Roberto Perez had one message: “Bring it on.”
“We are now together and waiting for the moment,” Perez said. “We are ready to play them. We are focused to reach our next goal and that is to win the state tournament. We are excited and need to play hard like we always do. You always want to play a good team and anything can happen.”
The national tournament is in Grand Junction, Colo., something the players already checked out.
“We feel we can win the whole thing,” said left-
fielder and lead-off hitter Kelvin Clark. “We worked hard to get in it. We can be a sleeper and people will look past us. Hopefully we can win state and get to Grand Junction.”
Second baseman Chris Jones said he has watched enough postseason games on TV to know No. 1 doesn’t always win.
“It all resets to 0-0 and what counts is what you do there,” Jones said. “It’s not new to us at all. We’ve seen some of the best. We’ll be all right.”
“We don’t care who we are playing,” designated hitter Zach Prentice said. “That’s how I feel and how the rest of the team feels. Obviously we are the underdog on paper, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
That’s the approach Lake City Community College is taking for its first-round matchup against Pensacola Junior College in the FCCAA State Baseball Tournament at Chain of Lakes Park in Winter Haven.
The Timberwolves (32-20) play Pensacola at 7 p.m. Friday in the fourth game of the day. The Panhandle Conference champion Pirates (41-6) are ranked No. 1 in the Florida poll and No. 1 in the NJCAA national poll.
“I’m OK with playing the No. 1 team in the nation,” LCCC head coach Tom Clark said at practice Monday. “That’s good.
“Why not play the best right out of the chute? It will give you momentum for the rest of the tournament.”
Clark knows the ranking is only a number. In 1999 his ’Wolves were ranked first in the nation and had an unsuccessful tournament run.
“We won the first game and went home the next day,” Clark said. “To be No. 1 you have got to be doing
something right, but once you get there the ranking doesn’t mean anything.”
A seven-game winning streak in the middle of the season had Lake City sitting pretty in the Mid-Florida Conference. Four losses near the end of the season cost the ’Wolves a conference championship and put the runner-up state berth in jeopardy.
Lake City closed the
season with three wins,
including the last one over
conference champion Seminole Community College to clinch second place.
“After the Santa Fe loss we were about as down as we could be,” Clark said. “We came back and won the next three. They have been through a lot mentally both on and off the field this year. I think we are well-prepared. We played a good non-
conference schedule and
having to fight the way we did to get in the playoffs should give us good momentum.”
Two-time all-conference catcher Roberto Perez had one message: “Bring it on.”
“We are now together and waiting for the moment,” Perez said. “We are ready to play them. We are focused to reach our next goal and that is to win the state tournament. We are excited and need to play hard like we always do. You always want to play a good team and anything can happen.”
The national tournament is in Grand Junction, Colo., something the players already checked out.
“We feel we can win the whole thing,” said left-
fielder and lead-off hitter Kelvin Clark. “We worked hard to get in it. We can be a sleeper and people will look past us. Hopefully we can win state and get to Grand Junction.”
Second baseman Chris Jones said he has watched enough postseason games on TV to know No. 1 doesn’t always win.
“It all resets to 0-0 and what counts is what you do there,” Jones said. “It’s not new to us at all. We’ve seen some of the best. We’ll be all right.”
“We don’t care who we are playing,” designated hitter Zach Prentice said. “That’s how I feel and how the rest of the team feels. Obviously we are the underdog on paper, but that doesn’t mean anything.”
 |
||
| Valued asset |
