West Orange boys lacrosse notches milestone wins for program, coach

WINTER GARDEN — For a guy who came to campus in 2007 to take a job coaching baseball, West Orange boys lacrosse coach Bill Baker hasn’t done too bad in his eight years at the helm for the Warriors.

With an 18-12 win on Monday over Merritt Island, Baker’s West Orange Warriors (8-3) clinched a second program milestone within the past week.

A win over Apopka on March 4 was win No. 200 for the program, and Monday’s win over Merritt Island was Baker’s 100th victory as coach.

“Two hundred is a special number … I’m just glad this group of boys got to be a part of that,” Baker said. “It’s pretty cool. My first year was 2007 and I was supposed to be an assistant baseball coach. … I’d never played lacrosse, and now I’m the winningest coach in school history.”

The 200th win came in the program’s 22nd year, as the Warriors are hopeful they can make some noise come playoff time after getting off to a strong start. West Orange fell to Winter Park on Friday, 9-6, but has won four of its last five and has a home match with Dr. Phillips looming at 7:30 p.m. on Friday.

“We’ve got to play smarter,” Baker said. “More leadership out of the seniors is going to help.”

Dr. Phillips is 7-5 and has also won six of its last seven matches.