HEBRON – Blanchester dropped its season opening doubleheader Saturday to Lakewood, 3-1 and 13-2, in non-league action in Licking County.
The game originally was scheduled to be held at Bott Field on the BHS campus but the field was unplayable so the game was moved to Lakewood High School.
In the first game, Blanchester managed four hits and was unable to hold a 1-0 lead. Brody Rice, BHS freshman, “gave us a solid first performance” on the mound. Mason Rector followed with a solid outing in relief.
Rice and Brant Bandow had doubles while Cole Ficke and Dustin Howard singled for the Wildcats.
In the second game, Lakewood plated 11 runs in the first after BHS grabbed a 2-0 lead. The Lancers had one runner on with two outs then scored 11 runs.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” BHS coach and Lakewood High School graduate Aaron Lawson said. “They sent 11 straight batters to the plate with two outs …. seven hits, two walks and an error. We could have done a better job of getting ahead (in the count) for sure, but seven hits in a row is impressive. Sometimes you need to tip your hat and move on.”
Lawson was pleased with the overall play of the defense and said his team “showed growth today and we had a lot of positives to build on.”
SUMMARY
March 24 2018
@Lakewood High School
Game 1: Lakewood 3 Blanchester 1
B 100-000-0…..1-4-0
L 110-010-x…..3-5-0
(1) BLANCHESTER (ab-r-h-rbi) Davidson 2-1-0-0 Ficke 2-0-1-0 Rice 3-0-1-0 Sicurella 0-0-0-0 Bandow 3-0-1-0 Farrow 3-0-0-0 Howard 3-0-1-0 Ballard 3-0-0-0 Patton 1-0-0-0 Waialae 2-0-0-0 Griffin 2-0-0-0 Rector 0-0-0-0. TOTALS 24-1-4-0
2B: Bandow, Rice
SB: Davidson 2
PITCHING IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO
Blanchester
Rice (L, 0-1) 4.1-4-3-3-6-2
Rector 1.2-1-0-0-0-0
Game 2: Lakewood 13 Blanchester 2
B 200-00…..2-4-2
L (11)00-2x…..13-11-0
(2) BLANCHESTER (ab-r-h-rbi) Davidson 3-0-0-0 Ficke 2-1-1-0 Dearth 1-0-0-0 Rice 2-1-1-1 Bandow 2-0-1-1 Howard 1-0-0-0 Fischer 1-=0-0-0 Farrow 1-0-0-0 Rector 1-0-0-0 Patton 2-0-1-0 Sicurella 1-0-0-0 Waialae 0-0-0-0. TOTALS 17-2-4-2
SB: Rice, Ficke
PITCHING IP-H-R-ER-BB-SO
Blanchester
Waialae (L, 0-1) 0.2-5-8-8-2-0
Rector 3.1-6-5-1-1-4
