Lakeland baseball continued it's spring break trip in Myrtle Beach by playing a doubleheader at the Ripken Experience. In game 1, the Lakers squared off against the Bay College Norse. The visiting Lakers struck first in the top of the 1st inning. James LaVigne started it with a 1-out single. LaVigne then stole 2nd base and advanced to 3rd of a single from Adrian Cuadrado. Josiah Cuesta scored LaVigne with a fielder's choice. In the home half of the first, Bay fought back as they scored 2 runs on two hits to take a 2-1 lead. Lakeland tied the score in the top of the 3rd inning. James LaVigne started it again with a leadoff single. Cuadrado would then sacrifice LaVigne to second base before LaVigne advanced to 3rd on a single from Josiah Cuesta. After Cuesta stole second base, LaVigne would score on a fielder's choice from Jacob Trevena. In the 4th inning, the Lakers would tack on two more runs. Will Mijares and James LaVigne had hits to get it going while Josiah Cuesta added an RBI sac fly.
While the Lakers were taking care of things offensively, Rocco Almonte and the defense were handling things on the other side of the ball. The Lakers defense played errorless baseball while Almonte helped silence the Norse's bats. In 6 innings of work, Almonte struck out 6 batters and allowed just 4 hits. With that, Almonte came out to start the 7th inning trying to finish the game. Almonte started strong by striking out the first two batters. The next batter singled though and so Almonte was lifted after a strong effort. Ethan Duncan got the call for a save. Duncan gave up a single to the first hitter he faced to make things interesting before inducing a groundout to the next batter to earn the save and give the Lakers the victory.
Rocco Almonte pitched 6.2 innings and allowed 2 earned runs on 5 hits while striking out 8 batters. Ethan Duncan picked up the save. James LaVigne led the Lakers offensively as he collected 3 hits and scored 3 runs. Adrian Cuadrado added 2 hits while Josiah Cuesta fnished with a hit and 2 RBI's. Parker LaGreca, Brooks Baker, and Will Mijares added a hit while Lorenzo Malcolm picked up a hit and scored a run for the Lakers. Jacob Trevena recorded an RBI in the victory.
In game 2, the Lakers faced the PSU Schuylkill Nittany Lions and were going for the sweep on the day. Mission accomplished!! Lakeland defeated the Nittany Lions by a score of 4-3. Coleton Logan pitched a tremendous game on the mound going the distance (7 innings) while allowing 3 runs (1 earned) on 3 hits and striking out 4 batters. Lakeland had to battleback in this game as it was scoreless until the top of the 3rd inning when the Nittany Lions scored 2 runs. The first run was scored on a double and 2 sacrifices before PSU scored the second run by taking advantage of 2 Lakeland errors and a walk. In the bottom of the 3rd inning, Lakeland would get 2 hits (single from Tony Hall and double from James LaVigne) and a hit batter, but would leave the bases loaded. In the top of the 5th inning, PSU would extend its lead to 3-0 as they combined 2 hits with another Laker error.
It was time for the Lakers to battle back. In the bottom of the 5th inning, the Lakers finally broke through. Tony Hall and Brooks Baker would both single to start the inning. Parker LaGreca would later follow with a 1-out RBI-single to get the Lakers on the board. Adrian Cuadrado would follow with a sac fly to put the Lakers back in business, trailing 3-2. After a clean top half of the inning for Coleton Logan, Emmanuel Dominguez started the bottom of the 6th with a leadoff single. Dominguez would then steal second base before advancing to 3rd on an error. Tony Hall would score Dominguez with a fielder's choice - and reach on an error. Hall would later score on another Nittany Lion error to put the Lakers up 4-3 after 6 innings. Just like the first game, the starting pitcher (Logan) started the 7th trying to get the complete game win. The leadoff batter worked a walk before Logan got a groundball that turned into a fantastic 5-4-3 double play for the Lakers. Logan then induced the last batter to fly out for the win.
Tony Hall (2 hits, 2 runs, 1 RBI) and Emmanuel Dominguez (2 hits, 1 run) led the way for the Lakers. Parker LaGreca and Adrian Cuadrado each recorded a hit and RBI while Sam Tetley, Brooks Baker and James LaVigne (double) each picked up a hit in the victory.
Next Up: The Lakers, winners of 3 straight, have evened their spring break record at 5-5. Lakeland will conclude their spring break trip by playing a single game tomorrow (3/14) against the Mercer County CC Vikings. Game time is scheduled for 9:00 am.