Another battle between old county teams took place Thursday night with Lakewood and Union battling it out in baseball. Despite a strong push back from the Spartans during the midpoint of the game, the Leopards still won 10-5.
“We jumped on them quickly in the first inning then eased off, but got back on it,” said Lakewood coach Jay Faircloth. “This is what we’ve been waiting for because we knew we had the team to hit the ball and we know there’s more to work on, but I’m really proud of them and am glad to get one in the win column.”
By the end of the first inning, Lakewood had earned a nice lead at 3-0, putting them in the drives seat early off and forcing Union to play catch up the rest of the night.
Making their first run in the third inning the Spartans managed to end it at 4-1.
With the Leopards up to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning and the score at 4-1, Lakewood would need only six more points to win in the next inning. Union ensured that didn’t happen, Lakewood did not score another run bringing the inning to a quick end.
By the top of the sixth the score stood at 5-3 making the game closer than before.
“We need to come ready to play baseball,” remarked Union’s coach Douglas Burley. “We gave them too many hits and we need to hit our stride earlier on unfortunately.”
Leopards had 16 hits for the game, with Jamie Sessoms and Josh Carter leading the attack with three apiece.
Lakewood claims their first win of the season and now sits at 1-3 on the season. They will be at Rosewood on Monday. As for the Spartans, they drop to 3-3 on the year and will be at North Duplin on Friday.
