The Lakeland baseball team opened their first day at Ripken in Myrtle Beach by earning a split. The Lakers took game one 8-5 over Ocean County College before falling to Northampton CC in the nightcap by a score of 22-7. In game 1, Lakeland would battle back to earn the win. Ocean County jumped out to a 3-0 lead after 2 innings of play. In the top of the 3rd inning, the Lakers scored 3 runs to even the score. Adrian Cuadrado got the Lakers going with a 2-out double. Emmanuel Dominguez was then hit by a pitch before Josiah Cuesta hit an RBI-single. James LaVigne then followed with a 2-RBI double to tie the score. In the bottom of the 4th inning, Ocean County scored 2 unearned runs on an error to re-take the lead at 5-3. The Lakers would strike back and take the lead in the top of the 5th inning. Lakeland would load the bases on an error, hit batter, and a walk. Parker LaGreca would then work a walk to push across a run. Thomas Vokic followed with a 2-RBI double to give the Lakers the lead.  The Lakers tacked on two more runs in the top of the 6th inning to gain control of the game. Adrian Cuadrado led the inning off with a walk. Josiah Cuesta later singled before Jacob Trevena brought them both home on a 2-RBI single. 

Rocco Almonte started on the mound for Lakeland and earned the win. Almonte pitched 5 innings and allowed 5 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits. Almonte also struck out 5 batters. Ethan Duncan relieved and earned the save as he pitched 2 innings allowing 1 hit while striking out 2 batters. Thomas Vokic (2 hits, 2 RBI's), Josiah Cuesta (2 hits, RBI, 3 runs scored), Jacob Trevena (hit, 2 RBI's) and James LaVigne (double, 2RBI's) led the way for the Lakers in their first win of the year. Adrian Cuadrado (double, 2 runs scored) and Parker LaGreca (hit and RBI) also played key roles while Ryan Thomson picked up 2 hits in the Lakers win.

In game 2, Adrian Cuadrado hit a 1st inning homerun to give the Lakers an early 1-0 lead. Lakeland would grow the lead to 6-0 by scoring 5 runs in the second inning.  A 2-RBI double from Cameron Huang-Ince and a 2-RBI single from Josiah Cuesta were key hits in the inning. Northampton cut the lead in half in the 3rd inning as they scored 3 runs on just 1 hit (2 HBP's, a walk, and an error). In the 4th inning, Northampton exploded for 6 runs to take a 9-6 lead. Unfortunately for the Lakers, they were unable to muster much more offense while Northampton used timely hitting coupled with walks to earn the win.

Josiah Cuesta led the way going 3-4 with 3 RBI's. Cameron Huang-Ince went 2-2 with 2 RBI's while Adrian Cuadrado hit a solo homerun. Tony Hall, Parker LaGreca, and James LaVigne each added a hit for the Lakers. Coleton Logan started on the hill and took the loss surrendering 9 runs (7 earned) in 3.1 innings. Logan also struck out 6 batters. Dash Innes relieved and allowed 6 earned runs in 2 innings while striking out 2 batters. Thomas Vokic relieved and pitched .2 innings while allowing 7 runs.

Next Up: The Lakers will face Middlesex College tomorrow (3/8) in a doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 9:00 am.