The Lakeland baseball team traveled to Hocking College today to take on the Hawks in a doubleheader. The teams split the games with Lakeland dropping game one 4-3 before winning the nightcap in a convincing 13-4 game. With the split, Lakeland's record now stands at 7-12 (4-5). The Lakers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the 2nd inning on RBI singles by RJ Petties and Philip Putnam.  The Hawks countered with in the 5th inning by hitting a 3-run homer to take the lead. They then added a solo shot in the 6th to take a 4-2 lead. In the top of the 7th, Petties got things going with a lead off single. Malakai Roberts then reached on an error and Ben Sterritt was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Tyrone Barbosa hit a grounder to 3rd that couldn't be handled as the Lakers cut the lead to 4-3. Unfortunately from there, they were unable to come up with the key hit and left the bases loaded to end the game. Barbosa and Petties finished with two hits apiece for Lakeland. Alex Ehinger was the hard luck loser for the Lakers as he allowed just two hits in 6 innings. Unfortunately, they were both home runs and that was the difference in the game. Ehinger finished with 5 strikeouts.

Game two was a different story for the Lakers. After giving up a run in the bottom of the first inning, they erupted for 5 runs in the top of the second. Key playes in the inning were a 2-RBI single by Kris Scandy, an RBI fielders choice by Collin Witherspoon, and an RBI single by Malakai Roberts. The Lakers continued by scoring 4 more in the top of the 3rd to take a commanding 9-1 lead and then coasted to the win. In the 3rd inning, Tyrone Barbosa got things going with a lead-off blast for a home run. After Cody Hejduk was hit by a pitch, Carson Fellows ripped a a 2-run home run. The final run was scored on an RBI single after both Zach Fronk and Witherspoon hit consecutive singles. Seth Freeman added a 2-RBI double in the 5th inning and RJ Petties added another RBI single in the 6th inning. Lakeland finished the game with a 15 hit attack. Kris Scandy finished 3-4 with 3 RBI's for the Lakers. Roberts, Barbosa, Fellows, and Hejduk each picjed up 2 hits in the nightcap. Tanner Low picked up the win for the Lakers as he pitched 4 innings and allowed 4 earned runs on 6 hits. Seena Amani pitched 2 innings allowing 1 hit while Malakai Roberts finished out pitching 1 inning and allowing 1 hit while striking out 1 batter.

Next Up: The Lakers will face the Edison State Chargers on Monday in an OCCAC make-up doubleheader. On Tuesday, they will face the Lorain County Commodores in another make-up doubleheader. Both games will be played at Sports Force Park in Sandusky, OH. The games are scheduled to begin at 1:00pm.