Monarch Baseball. {Courtesy}
By: Matt Rothman
The Monarch High School baseball team has not even started the season yet but has four more players committed to playing in college.
The Knights now have five players committed from their senior class after Jake Mitarotonda, the teams gold clove award winner, committed last year to Cornell College in Iowa.
Lyonel Barthelemy is headed to playing college baseball at South Florida State College. This will be Barthelemy’s fourth season on varsity, and he is a lifetime .291 hitter. He hit .348 last season and has hit a home run, 18 RBIs, and stolen 37 bases in 39 attempts.
Vinny Mercado is also going to who is going to South Florida State College. He has a lifetime batting average of .250 with nine extra-base hits and 17 runs scored.
Hunter Nelson is set to attend Central College in Iowa. This past season, he hit .333 with a home run and 15 RBIs. He also had four doubles and a triple while stealing four bases.
Giovanni Mastrorosa will be playing next year at Capital University. He had an on-base percentage of .383, which was fourth-best on the team. Mastrorosa had nine RBIs and scored nine runs.
“It’s great to see that the work these guys have put in has paid off, said Head Coach Mike Ramaglia. “It’s a really deep senior class with Lyonel, Vinny, Hunter, Gio and Jake Mita all going on to play at the next level and Brayden Slade possibly playing both football and baseball. Very proud of this group.”
Monarch went 10-8 a season ago before falling to J.P. Taravella in the playoffs. The Knights will open their season on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at 3:30 p.m. against Everglades High School.
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