JEFFERSON–Jefferson jumped out to a 5-0 lead after two innings and held on for a 6-2 Chagrin Valley Conference Lake Division win over visiting Lakeside on Wednesday.
The Falcons plated four runs in the first and one in the second, enough to fend off the Dragons.
“I was real impressed with our approach at the plate. We were aggressive,” said Jefferson head coach Scott Barber. “We went flat in the middle innings but we came through defensively.”
Michael Riffle delivered with a two-run single in the first inning for Jefferson to open the scoring, then Luke Lambert and Tate Hudson each drove in a run on sacrifice flies, pushing the lead to 4-0 through one inning.
Devin Salinas opened the Falcons’ second frame with a leadoff triple and scored on a Riffle RBI groundout.
Jeremy Murphy doubled to start the Dragons’ fifth inning and scored on a Conner Hansel RBI single. Matthew Wagner added another Lakeside run on a sac fly, trimming its deficit to 5-2.
Jefferson added a key insurance run in the fifth on a Tristan Gilman sac fly that scored Logan Saksa, capping off the Falcons’ 5-0 start in conference play.
Even with the hot start, the Jefferson bats cooled off just in time for the Dragons to heat up, and the Falcons worked out of a number of jams to hold the lead.
That toughness stems from the competition played early on.
“We’ve beefed up our non-league schedule, and going into last night, the teams that beat us are a combined 45-6 on the year,” Barber said. “It makes a difference. We’ve played those teams tough, and we’re ready for these conference games. It was rough around game four when we took some bumps, and I think some guys are realizing is that that stretch was to set up for now.”
That tough stretch and hot start in conference play have Jefferson eyeing one of its goals for this season.
“A conference championship is our number one goal,” Barber said.
Riffle led the offense, going 2-for-4 with three RBI, Dickson went 3-for-4, Salinas finished 2-for-4, while Lambert and Hudson each drove in a run.
Lambert earned the win on the mound, going five innings and allowing two runs on five hits with two walks and two strikeouts, and Hudson closed the deal in the final two frames, allowing one hit with two walks and two strikeouts.
Despite the slow start on both sides of the ball, the Dragons got rolling and hung tough.
“We made some mistakes early on, but even when we’ve fallen behind, we’ve always fought back,” said Lakeside Michael Nappi. “It’s a testament to our players, they don’t give up, throw away at-bats. On top of all that, and we don’t have one senior on the squad so every experience we have is a learning experience. It’s going to benefit us, and we battled with a team like Jefferson.”
Lakeside’s record might read 2-8, but they went toe-to-toe with one of the CVC Lake Division’s toughest teams.
“(Conference teams) can look at our record, but if they don’t know the stories of the games, we’re going to give them more than they might think,” Nappi said. “I like to have that on our side. Teams have to take us seriously; we’re not a doormat. What we try to instill in our guys is to always fight, compete, and you never know what happens when you put pressure on the other team.”
Despite the loss, the youthful Dragons can walk away with some building blocks for the future.
“When you play a team like Jefferson, the little things matter,” Coach Nappi said. “They expose any little mistake you make. Today we made a few errors, and it makes it tough to come back against a team like that, but we hung in there.”
Zion Thomas went 2-for-3 to lead the offense, while Hansel and Wagner each drove in a run.
Anthony Wooten took the loss, working all six innings, allowing two runs on eight hits with four strikeouts.
Lakeside visits Pymatuning Valley on April 24, while Jefferson visits defending Division II state champ West Branch on April 25.
