The Lakers baseball team played host to the Bryant & Stratton Bobcats today at Laker Field and dropped both ends of a doubleheader. The game one score was 5-3 while game 2 finished 14-0. Game 1 saw the Bobcats take a 4-0 lead in the 3rd inning before the Lakers began to chip away. The Lakers pushed their first run across in the bottom of the 4th inning. Kyle Zaluski doubled to get the Lakers going. Dalton Vance then reached on an error by the Bobcat shortsop. Riley Wallace walked to load the bases before Stephen Osowski singled in the Lakers first run. In the bottom of the 5th inning, the Lakers would tack on two more runs to make the score 4-3. Cody Crawford and Michael Beckman started the inning with back-to-back singles. They would later come in to score on a Caden Gopalakrishna ball hit that the third baseman could not handle and then a Dalton Vance piece that eluded the shortstop. The score remained 4-3 until the top of the 7th inning when the Bobcats pushed across another run. The Lakers would not go down without a battle though. Caden Gopalakrishna hit a two-out double. Dalton Vance then reached on an error by the first baseman. Unfortunately for the Lakers, they were unable to get that one final hit and so fell in game 1. The Lakers had 8 hits in the game, but were unable to string enough of them together. Lakeland had runners on base throughout the game and were just unable to cash in. Cody Crawford finished game 1 going 2-4 while Caden Gopalakrishna finished with a hit (2B) and an RBI. Joey Elly, Dalton Vance, Stephen Osowski, Kyle Zaluski, and Michael Beckman all had hits in the Laker loss. Michael Beckman took the hard-luck loss on the mound pitching 5 innings and allowing 4 hits, 4 earned runs, while recording 3 strikeouts. Stephen Osowski relieved and pitched 2 innings giving up 1 hit and 1 earned run while striking out 3 batters.
Lakeland was unable to get going in the second game as the Bobcats were able to take advantage of all of the recent Laker injuries and extremely busy schedule. The Lakers managed just two hits in the second game - a single by Dalton Vance and a double from Kyle Zaluski. Abe Bayus took the loss as he pitched 2.1 innngs. Riley Wallace relieved and pitchd 2.2 innings and struck out 4 batters.
Next Up: The Lakers will play the same Bobcats on Saturday at Solon Park in another doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 pm.
