Upstart Lakewood Ranch High baseball players excited for the future

After a 10-16 season in 2022, it wasn't likely the Lakewood Ranch High baseball team would challenge for a district title in 2023, its first season under Head Coach Colton Chupp.

After a middling 6-5 start to the season, nothing had changed.

Then Mustangs started winning. 

Thanks to a strong pitching staff and a penchant for getting timely hits, the Mustangs put together a 19-8 record, winning 13 of their last 16 games. That included a win in the district championship game, 1-0 over Venice High (15-13) on May 4.

It was a win that earned Lakewood Ranch a home regional playoff game. That game came May 10 against Winter Haven High (19-8), and Lakewood Ranch once again came through with a 6-1 win. 

Though the team's season came to an end May 15 with a 7-0 loss to top-seeded Plant High (19-7), Chupp and the Mustangs proved they have the core to be a true threat in 2024.

The team excelled under Chupp, who played for the Mustangs before graduating in 2015. Chupp, 25, refused to take much credit for the team's turnaround this season, instead crediting the players who stepped up. 

"The guys who are juniors now, they were freshman in 2021 when I coached the junior varsity team," Chupp said. "They ended up going undefeated other than one tie game that season. That class has been great for us. When you have that much young talent, I mean, I knew it was going to click eventually."

Photo by Ryan Kohn

The Mustangs' junior class includes the team's top-two starting pitchers, Alex Vaillancourt and Lochlan Radloff. Vaillancourt, a right-hander, had a 1.63 ERA over 60.1 innings, while Radloff, a left-hander, has a 2.75 ERA over 56 innings. They saved his best for the postseason. Against Venice, Vaillancourt threw 5 2/3 shutout innings, allowing six hits and one walk with two strikeouts. Against Winter Haven, Radloff threw a complete game, allowing one run on four hits and one walk with seven strikeouts. 

Lakewood Ranch also had senior Cole Dement (2.67 ERA over 25 innings), among other options, waiting in the bullpen if someone faltered. Chupp said the options he had in relation to his pitching staff gave the team a big advantage over teams that leaned too heavily on one ace pitcher. Though Dement will graduate, having Radloff and Vaillancourt back for 2024 gives Lakewood Ranch a strong outlook. 

Lakewood Ranch had four starters hitting .316 or better, and all of them — Radloff (.383), Ryan Kaitz (.351), Jack Muller (.316) and Andy Schroeder (.316) — are juniors, meaning the heart of the Mustangs' order will also return in 2024. It will be supplemented by talent such as freshman Carter Sprague, who is hitting .275 with 13 RBIs and a team-leading 8 steals. 

Photo by Ryan Kohn

The team's lineup hasn't always been explosive, but it gets runs at key moments. Against Winter Haven, that meant taking advantage of four Blue Devils errors and taking risks on the bases. In the fifth inning, with the game scoreless, Chupp sent senior Holden Pollock on a steal of second base, which set up Pollock to score on a single to left field by Sprague. Chupp said he didn't expect the play to be close at the plate, but thanks to a strong throw, it was. The call went the Mustangs' way.

Lakewood Ranch would add five more runs that inning, busting the game open. 

It is that kind of aggressive baseball that kept the Mustangs thriving in 2023, and makes 2024 even more promising.

"We have the utmost confidence in them," Chupp said of his players. "They've shown that they can do it now."