By Marshall Tempest
Reporter
The Wekiva baseball team’s 2025 season ended this week in the first round of the 6A District 5 Tournament after the Mustangs fell 9-0 to the South Lake Eagles. Wekiva finished the season with a 6-18 record and ranked 576th in the state.
Wekiva vs. South Lake
Coming into the district tournament, Wekiva was on a five-game losing streak. Before the tournament, Wekiva fell 16-1 to Apopka, 13-3 to Davenport, 15-3 to Colonial, 7-5 to Ocoee, and 6-2 to Ocoee. The three-seed Mustangs were set to face the two-seed Eagles in the first round.
South Lake jumped out in front early, sending in three runs at the bottom of the first inning. Taking the lead 3-0, South Lake’s pitcher made quick work of Apopka’s batters in the second and third innings, retiring the side in order both times.
In the bottom of the fourth, South Lake scored three more runs to increase its lead to 6-0. The Eagles scored their final three runs in the fifth inning.
Wekiva struggled in all facets of the game against South Lake. The Mustangs struggled at the plate all night, only recording three hits on the Eagles’ pitcher – one each from Caden Lopez, Cody Bowen and Darelle Martinez. South Lake struck out 11 Wekiva batters, walked two and hit one batter with a pitch.
Wekiva mustered nine baserunners with hits, walks and South Lake fielding errors, but the team was unable to get a clutch hit.
The Mustangs finished the game with a .857 fielding percentage—higher than their season average of .775, but three errors proved costly. Starting pitcher Flaquer Williams gave up nine runs, but seven of them were unearned. He allowed five hits, walked seven, and struck out four.
Jaden Graham came in to relieve Flaquer in the fifth and closed out the game for the Mustangs. Graham gave up no hits or runs, walked one batter and struck out two.
Season recap
This was a tough season for Wekiva, considering the level of senior leadership and experience on the team this year. The team had eight seniors this season and seven juniors. Next year, the team will have seven seniors as they try to rebuild their younger core.
Wekiva scored 132 runs and allowed 259 for a negative scoring differential of 127 runs, or losing by 5.29 runs per game this season on average. The Mustangs went 4-8 at home and 2-10 on the road. The highlights of the season were defeating Jones twice (24-9, 23-1) and Evans twice (7-6, 16-6).
The Wekiva Mustangs had a lackluster season at the plate, finishing with a team batting average of .234. Wekiva collected 117 hits, 132 runs, 78 RBIs, 11 doubles, and four triples. Leading the Mustangs at the plate this season were Brady Reinert, Enrique Polanco, Lopez and Flaquer.
Reinert, a junior turning senior next year, led the Mustangs in runs scored this year. He finished the season with a .328 batting average, 22 runs scored, nine RBIs and 34 stolen bases. Polanco is a freshman turning sophomore next year and was second on the team in runs scored this season. He finished the season with a .162 batting average, 17 runs, six RBIs and eight stolen bases.
Lopez is a sophomore turning junior who was second in RBIs on the team. He finished the season with a .296 batting average, 11 runs, 10 RBIs and six stolen bases. Finally, Flaquer led the team in RBIs this season. He finished the season with a .273 batting average, 10 runs, 11 RBIs and six stolen bases.
Wekiva had a large bullpen this year, but two pitchers stood out. Flaquer and Graham led the Mustangs on the mound this season, pitching 71 of the team’s 124 innings. Flaquer finished the season with a 3.17 ERA in 46 and one-third innings pitched, giving up 34 hits, 57 runs (21 earned), 45 walks and striking out 72.
Graham finished the season with a 5.39 ERA in 24 and two-third innings pitched, giving up 20 hits, 32 runs (19 earned), 27 walks and striking out 29.
