The Lakeland baseball team traveled to Xenia, OH over the weekend to play Clark State in a baseball doubleheader.  The home portion of the games were rained out on Friday and will be made up at a later date. The Lakers lost a back-and-forth game 1 by a score of 8-7 and had game 2 halted in the top of the 6th inning with the Lakers leading 6-1. Game 1 started well for the Lakers as they scored two runs in the top of the 1st inning. Cody Hejduk hit a 1-out double to get the Lakers started. Following a Rafael Nakandakari Alves walk, Hejduk would score on a passed ball. Later in the inning, Austin Heeter would knock Alves in with an RBI-single.  The Eagles would score a run in the home half of the inning before the Lakers regained the 2-run lead by scoring a run in the top of the 2nd inning. The run scored on a Caden Gopalakrishna solo blast. After holding the Eagles scoreless in the bottom of the 2nd, Lakeland scored 2 more runs in the top of the 3rd inning. Cody Hejduk led off the inning with a walk. Alves would double to put runners on second and third. Hejduk would later score on passed ball to give the Lakers a 4-1 lead. Austin Heeter would then deliver a RBI-single to knock in Alves and increase the Laker lead to 5-1.The Eagles would counter by scoring a run in the home half of the inning to make the score 5-2 in favor of Lakeland. In the top of the 4th, the Lakers would tack on another run. Seth Cervello walked and stole a base to get the inning started. He would later score on a Dalton Vance hit that the Eagles could not handle to give the Lakers a 6-2 lead. The Eagles then scored 4 unearned runs in the 4th inning as they took advantage of a 2-out fielding error by the Lakers that opened the gates for Clark State. Lakeland was shut down in the top of the 5th before the Eagles took the lead in the bottom of the 5th inning. The Lakers continued to battle though and tied it back up in the top of the 6th inning on another Caden Gopalakrishna home run smash. Unfortunately for the Lakers, it was short-lived as the Eagles pushed across the deciding run in the bottom of the 6th inning.  Caden Gopalakrishna led the way for the Lakers going 2-3 with 2 home runs while Austin Heeter went 2-4 with 2-RBI's. Seth Cervello, Cody Hejduk, and Rafael Nakandakari Alves each went 1-2 in the Laker loss. Michael Beckman started and pitched 5 innings allowing 7 runs (3 earned) on 6 hits while striking out 4 batters. Lenny Feckner relieved and took the loss allowing 1 earned run in 1 inning pitched. 

Game 2 again started well for the Lakers. After a Dalton Vance single, Cody Hejdukk reached on a fielder's choice. He would later come around to score after consecitive singles by Kyle Zaluski and Caden Gopalakrishna. The score would remain 1-0 until the top of the 3rd inning when the Lakers exploded for 5 runs. With 1 out, Rafael Nakandakari Alves  and Zaluski hit back-to-back singles. Gopalakrishna would follow with an RBI double before Seth Cervello hit an RBI single. Later in the inning, Cervello would score on a Cody Crawford single. Stephen Osowoski would then deliver an RBI single to knock in Crawford and give the Lakers a 6-0 lead. The Eagles would score a run in the bottom of the 3rd inning and the score would remain 6-1 until the game was called after 5 full innings of play. The game will resume in the 6th inning when the makeup date is scheduled at Lakeland. Seth Cervello, Caden Gopalakrishna, and Kyle Zaluski each have 2 hits for the Lakers so far in the game. Seena Amani has pitched 5 innings scattering 8 hits while allowing 1 earned run and striking out 5 batters.

Next Up: The Lakers are schduled to play a 4-game set with Cuyahoga Community College this weekend. The Lakers are scheduled to host a doubleheader on Friday at 1:00 pm before traveling to Tri-C on Saturday for a 1:00 pm DH.