Lakeland Baseball Team Works Extra In Florida Games

Lakeland baseball coaches, Dennis and Mike Robinson, learned about the perils of getting a team ready to play in the northeast. It was 1977 or 1978, they said and there was a three-foot drift. 

“At that time, we said we are not going to spend spring vacation here again," Dennis Robinson said. “It’s just not a baseball setting."

The Lakeland baseball team (3-1) left on Saturday for their annual journey to Florida. The coaches are bringing 24 athletes to Vero Beach, old Dodgertown, to play baseball during their spring break vacation and come back on Friday.

“We have seven games, we’ll take a lot of groundballs, which is important," Mike Robinson said. “We’ll see a lot of live pitching. We’ll get a chance to do a lot of hitting, which is good."

Lakeland senior first baseman David Judisky is one of those guys going to Florida. He said it’s important the team has the opportunity to get extra at-bats to be better prepared when the Hornets Section 1 schedule starts up again at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 26, against visiting Putnam Valley.

“It will feel good to get the extra at-bats,” Judisky said. “We are going to see 15-20 at bats down there more than we would get up here. To get that, we will be ready for the rest of the season. We should be in good shape.”

For Judisky, this is his second year going down to Florida.

“We must have played six or seven games last year before our season even started,” Judisky said. “We were right in the swing of things. You get down there, you get reps every day and at bats during the games, you come back and away you go.”

“We had a great team last year that got along real well,” Judisky continued. “That was a great trip for us to go on. It should be the same thing this year. Just to be together as a team will be great.”

Coach Gets to See Son

Lakeland will play in Dodgertown from Sunday through Wednesday against other teams from New York, who like the Hornets, are looking to get some extra work under the sun.

The team will then play at Terry Parker High School in Jacksonville, Florida on Thursday. That is where Dennis’ son, Dennis Robinson Jr., is the head coach.

Robinson Jr., a 2000 Lakeland graduate, was a standout pitcher for the Hornets and Jacksonville University before playing two years in the Baltimore Orioles minor-league system. He then played independent ball eight miles away from Fenway Park for the North Shore Spirit in the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball (better known as the Can-Am League) in Lynn, Massachusetts.

From there, he went to be an assistant/third base/pitching coach for Mandarin High School in Jacksonville for three years before becoming the Head Coach at Terry Parker this season.

“It’s a thrill,” Dennis Robinson Sr. said. “He is so good with athletes and has so much to give. We played Mandarin High School, a Big 6 A school where he was the pitching coach (last season) and yes, we won. It was fun being with him.”

Robinson Jr. likewise enjoyed having the chance to see and coach against his dad a year ago and relishes the opportunity this season to see him again. He said he just wishes that he could see his dad more often, but realizes that Lakeland High School is his home.

“I’m trying to beg him to come down and be my pitching coach but he just loves Lakeland so much,” Robinson Jr. said. “He’s done everything for that program though over the years, he doesn’t want to leave. He has a great facility, has two pitchers that are draft eligible (Jonathan de Marte and Joey Arena), one a pre-season All-American (de Marte), he has a great first baseman (Judisky), he is definitely in a spot that would be tough to walk away from.”

While Robinson Jr. is far away from his alma mater physically, he said he wants to see the Hornets win a state championship.

“They have the cream of the crop in pitching and hitting,” Robinson  Jr. said.

While the Robinson family has great love for one another, Robinson Sr. warned once the game starts, it’s all business.

“Once the first pitch is thrown, we go after each other,” Robinson Sr. said. “Last year, he was stealing my signs, I was stealing his signs. I told him I would tell mom, mom will be on my side anyway. A lot of the wives are coming down in my family but they will be rooting for him.”

Scheduling Note

The game against Terry Parker High School for the Hornets will count in their record but not towards the Section 1 seedings since it’s out of state. The Hornets' six other games on the trip will not count in their official record, they are considered scrimmages.