PORT CHARLOTTE, FLA. - Through the first five games of the 2026 FCSAA DII Baseball Championship, Lake-Sumter State College, Palm Beach State College, Pasco-Hernando State College and St. Johns River State College had combined to hit 20 home runs and score an average of 23 runs per game. 

So when Lake-Sumter State and Pasco-Hernando State met in the Championship Game, which spanned two days thanks to a weather delay on Saturday evening, a pitchers' duel naturally ensued. 

The Bobcats' Hector Escobar pitched a complete game spanning both days and Vance Celiberti drove in a pair of runs to send Pasco-Hernando State to the 3-1 win and its second straight FCSAA Championship. 

With the win, the Bobcats move on to the NJCAA DII South District Series against the ACCC Champion Lurleen B. Wallace. The best-of-3 series will take place at St. Johns River State College May 8-10. 

Lake-Sumter State, meanwhile, will hope to hear its name called as an at-large participant in the NJCAA DII World Series. 

When the championship game began on Saturday, it did so in familiar fashion. Already up 1-0, Celiberti drilled a homer to right in the top of the third, his second of the tournament, to give Pasco-Hernando State an early 2-0 lead. Moments later when the innning ended, tournament officials pulled the teams from the field when lightning was detected within six miles of Charlotte Sports Park. Realizing the inevitable, the decision was also made to resume the game on Sunday morning. 

The delay had little to no impact on Escobar. Having retired all six batters faced on Saturday, head coach Lyndon Coleman didn't hesitate to roll him back out Sunday morning and Escobar responded. He needed just 103 pitches, 73 of which were strikes, to record the complete game and lock up the Tournament's Most Outstanding Pitcher Award. He allowed only five hits, didn't walk a batter and struck out seven. 

The Lakehawks scored their only run of the game when Mason Blackburn's fifth-inning single scored Noah Morales. 

Celiberti, who finished 2-for-3 with two RBI, was voted the Tournament's Most Outstanding Player, and both he and Escobar landed on the 12-player All-Tournament Team. 

They were joined by Pasco-Hernando State teammates Alex Rodriguez, Bradon Durfee, Michael Greenburg, Eduardo Morales and Isaac Palacios. 

Lake-Sumter State was represented by Morales, Alex Galan and Bruno Vazquez. 

Palm Beach State's George Pardo and Jack Reimann rounded out the team. 

By virtue of winning, Coleman was named FCSAA Coach of the Year.