The Lake Orion baseball squad used a pair of impressive pitching performances and some timely hitting to claim the District 16 title at home on June 3.
‘Today was the day we’ve been waiting for, for a long time,? coach Andy Schramek said, crediting his team’s ability to hit with runners in scoring position, one of the team’s biggest problems in the regular season.
In the title game, the Dragons took advantage of a couple of Utica Eisenhower errors in the second inning, to jump out to a 4-0 lead.
They added two more runs in the fifth to coast to a 6-1 win, behind the strong arm of sophomore Josh Deeg.
‘I just stepped up and tried to do what I could,? Deeg said after a complete game performance in which he allowed just three hits.
‘He has great command of his pitches,? Schramek said of Deeg. ‘He throws pitches for strikes.?
Senior Steve Garver caught both games for LO, and is excited to be back into the regionals after a one-year absence.
‘It’s a good way to start the finish of my last season,? he said, noting the team is ‘not done yet.?
The Dragons lost in regional play to Port Huron Northern and Troy, in Garver’s first two trips in 2003 and 2004, respectively.
‘It’s the right time to start peaking,? Garver said. ‘It doesn’t matter what your record is as long as you bring home the trophy.?
Perhaps the most compelling of Saturday’s three games was the first one, where the Dragons battled Romeo ace Dan DeLamielleure.
LO got a good pitching performance of their own from Lee Dickinson, who struck out nine and gave up just two runs in six innings of work, but they still trailed 2-1 heading into the last half of the sixth inning.
But a DeLamielleure fielding mistake set up an RBI single by Deeg, and a go-ahead RBI by Dickinson.
Schramek said his team has practiced that situation ?1,000 times? throughout the season, and it certainly paid off.
Jon Ruggeri, as he’s done throughout the year, pitched a perfect seventh inning to get the save, and LO ran off with a win when it appeared just 15 minutes earlier that any tournament run was in jeopardy.
‘There were a lot of breaks today, and I think we got all of them,? Schramek said.
The Dragons (20-11) will travel to the Chippewa Valley regional this Saturday, where they will first take on Rochester Adams, a team they beat 5-3 just two weeks ago.