The Lakeland men's baseball team kicked off their season by traveling to Catonsville, MD today to face off against the Sussex County Skylanders. The Lakers fell short in a 7th inning rally and dropped the contest by a score of 8-6. The Lakers record stands at 0-1 on the season. 

The Lakers got off to a strong start scoring 2 runs in the top of the first inning. Cody Hejduk singled and advanced to second on a Rafael Nakandakari Alves fielder's choice. Hejduk would score on a Kyle Zaluski single. Later in the inning, Zaluski would score on an Austin Heeter single.  After some defensive miscues, the Lakers would find themselves trailing 8-4 going into the top of the 7th inning. After Zaluski was hit by a pitch, Heeter would single before Cody Crawford walked to load the bases. Runs would score on fielder's choices by Caden Gopalakrishna and Riley Wallace. The Lakers would have the tying run at the plate as the game ended.

Michael Beckman started and took the tough luck loss as he allowed 5 runs (2 earned) on 2 hits in 3 innings. Beckman also struck out 2 batters. Frank Sloan relieved and allowed 3 runs (2 earned) on 5 hits in 3 innings. Sloan finished his day with 3 strikeouts. Offensively for the Lakers, Austin Heeter went 2-4 with 2 RBI's and a run scored. Kyle Zaluski finished his day going 1-2 with 2 RBI's and 2 runs scored while Cody Hejduk was 1-2 with 2 runs scored. Riley Wallace, Andhris Martinez, and Seth Cervello also picked up hits in the Lakers loss.

Krause's Comments: "We had opportunities to win. We started well early then had a little lull before trying to win it in the end. Our pitchers pitched well enough to win - our defense was our Achilles heel. Our first time outside playing against a team that practices outside regularly - we did fine. We'll keep working and get better."

Next up: The Lakers will square off against CCBC Catonsville in a doubleheader that starts at noon.