The Lakeland Hawks baseball team (3-3) played the Lake City Timberwolves (6-2) on April 2. The Hawks lost both games to the Timberwolves for the seventh consecutive season.
The first game finished 12-1 after six innings, and the second game finished 11-1 after five innings.
“I am very proud of this team. They fought to the very bitter end. They gave me all their best attitude and effort even though the scoreboard does not reflect that,” head coach Al Bevacqua said. “We can work on challenging the strike zone a bit more and not running as many hitters, and knowing the defensive situation.”
Roan Reilly started the game off strong on the mound for the Hawks, not allowing a run in the first.
After neither team scored in the first inning, the Timberwolves scored two in the second, and the Hawks bounced back with one in the bottom half of the inning.
“I feel that I did pretty well. I did good defensively. I was doing everything I could do in the game,” Raiston Ellwood said. “I can work on staying more positive and not giving up as easily. We definitely need to hit better.”
The Timberwolves blew the game wide open with a seven spot in the third inning. The Timberwolves were patient at the plate and drew multiple walks in the inning. They also took advantage of Lakeland’s errors.
Evan Shanley entered the game with the bases loaded and no outs trailing 4-1. All three of the runners on base scored and were charged to Reilly, and Shanley gave up two more runs before getting out of the inning.
Shanley retired eight consecutive batters after allowing his first two runs.
“I felt good because I knew we needed out of that inning, I was ready to pitch I just did what I knew how to do,” Shanley said. “I feel like as a team, we need to not walk people and work on our hitting.”
The Timberwolves scored their final three runs in the sixth, sealing the Hawks’ fate and enforcing the ten-run rule.
The Timberwolves led the entire second game after scoring four in each of the first two innings.
The Hawks kept on fighting and were not giving up. Colin Killian came in to pitch halfway through the third inning and kept the Timberwolves from scoring any runs. He continued throwing strikes in the fourth inning, and with a strong defense, Lake City stayed at eight runs through the fourth inning.
“I feel like I did well. I was ready to pitch. We were down at that point, so there was nothing to lose,” Killian said. “I think as a team, we need to hit better with higher velocity pitching. That was our biggest struggle.”
The Hawks were able to gain one run on a sacrifice fly from Reilly in the fourth inning before the game ended 11-1 in the fifth.
