The Dragons faced the full might of the Oxford Wildcat Baseball team in a doubleheader April 27, falling to the northern rivals before rallying to crush them in the second game.
The first game, a 7-5 loss, saw the Wildcats score an early, dominating lead in the third inning. The Dragons managed to crawl back to a two run deficit, but the Wildcat defense proved too efficient.
‘I don’t know if there was an overall problem but they played a good game and we fell behind in some counts,? said Head Coach Andy Schramek. ‘We didn’t play very good defense and we gave them extra base runners. We just had a couple mental mistakes and with their timely hitting we fell behind. They just played better in the first five innings than we did.?
The second game, however, saw the Dragons come back in a big way with a 14-5 win. The game began close but thanks to junior Roman Kuster’s six RBIs, junior Nick Vogulmeier’s four runs and the combined effort of the team, the Dragons held on to an early lead to win the game. Defensively, junior pitcher Nick Deeg was able prevent Wildcat runs in the fourth inning while runners were on first and third. With only one out, Deeg managed to pull the inning to a close before any damage was done.
Overall Schramek said the team has it’s fair share of strengths and weaknesses.
‘We have pretty good pitching and our offense is pretty deep,? he said. ‘We can run the bases well too, but in terms of what we have to work on, we have to be much tighter on our defense. We have mental mistakes that seem to crop up from time to time – things like focusing on dropping balls – that need work. It doesn’t happen a lot but when it does it kills you.?
The team will play again today, May 2, at LOHS against Adams – a team the Dragons beat earlier in the year. Schramek said the Highlanders have always been a good program and will provide a solid battle for the Dragons. Still he said if the Dragons can clean up ‘what’s hurting them? they should perform just fine.
Lake Orion is 5-1 in the OAA Red Division and 11-7 overall.