The Lakeland baseball team played host to the Edison State Chargers today in a doubleheader to close out their regular season. Lakeland swept the Chargers by the scores of 6-2 and 3-2. With the wins, Lakeland finishes the regular season with a record of 12-18 (9-11). After spotting the Chargers with a run in the top of the 1st, the Lakers took advantage of some Edison State wildness to score 4 runs and take a commanding lead. Philip Putnam led off with a single before Cody Hejduk and Kyle Zaluski walked to load the bases. Ben Sterritt then worked a walk to force in the tying run. Later in the inning, with Tyronne Barbosa batting, the Chargers committed a throwing error on a pickoff attempt that allowed 2 runs to score. Sterritt later scored on a wild pitch while Carson Fellows was at the plate. Lakeland added another run in the bottom of the second inning to make the score 5-1. Cody Hejduk doubled and later scored on a Seth Freeman sacrifice fly. The Chargers would score a run in the top of the 6th innings to cut the lead to 5-1, but the Lakers would answer in the home half of the 6th. Cody Hejduk would reach base on a fielder's choice and then score on a Seth Freeman RBI double.
Philip Putnam would finish with 2 hits (double, single) while Cody Hejduk would finish with a double and score 3 runs. Seth Freeman doubled and had 2 RBI's and Ben Sterritt picked up a hit and an RBI. On the mound, Adam Letson continued his excellent pitching as he picked up the win hurling a complete game allowing 6 hits and 2 earned runs while striking out 1 in 7 innings of work.
Game two was a tightly played contest where both teams were dominated by pitching and good defense. The Lakers would finish with 5 hits while the Chargers would manage just 3 hits. Edison State would take a 1-0 lead in the top of the 2nd and the Lakers answered by scoring a run of their own in the home half. Lakeland's run scored when Caden Gopalakrishna would reach on a fielder's choice. Malakai Roberts would hit a ground ball that the pitcher had to field to his side. Roberts put pressure on the pitcher with his hustle to first and the pitcher ended up making a throwing error allowing Gopalakrishna to score. The score would remain tied until the bottom of the 6th inning when the Lakers would take a 2-1 lead. Malakai Roberts reached base on a single. Later in the inning, he would score on a Philip Putnam infield hit. Unfortunately, for Lakeland, they would surrender that run back in the top of the 7th inning to set up an exciting finish in the home half of the inning. The Lakers struck quickly as Kyle Zaluski hit a leadoff double. RJ Petties then pinch ran for Zaluski. Lakeland's Ben Sterritt was the next batter. Sterritt stepped to the plate and ripped a game-winning walk-off double on a deep drive to right-center field.
Lakeland had 5 different players record hits on the day - Cody Hejduk, Philip Putnam, Malakai Roberts, Kyle Zaluski, and Ben Sterritt. Alex Ehinger started and took a no-decision as he threw a strong 6 innings allowing 2 hits and 1 run while striking out 3 batters. Seena Amani relieved and picked up both the blown save and the win as he threw 1 inning and allowed 1 run.
Krause's Comments: "I was very happy with the way we battled all day. We needed to get a win today to help set us up for the post-season. Sweeping Edison puts us in a good position. We have some really good kids on this team that work hard. We're looking forward to the next step."
Next Up: With the two wins, the Lakers have positioned themselves to be in a strong spot to make the post-season. The final determination will be made after games are completed this weekend. The sub-district tournament will be held on Thursday, May 5th at Sports Force Park in Sandusky, Ohio. All games are 9 inning affairs and it is a single-elimination 4 team set-up. Two games will be played at 1:00 pm with the winners then playing off for the right to advance to the next round of the District tournament. Opponents are selected by a blind draw on Monday.
