Tuesday, April 15, 2014
By Steve Wilaj
CORTLAND
It took more than two hours, 154 pitches from Lakeview’s David LeMasters and not too many fewer by Poland’s Adam Knight, but their teams ended right back where they began on Monday.
Tied.
After eight innings of play and a 1-1 score, Monday’s contest at Lakeview High School was suspended because of darkness. The game is scheduled to be completed today at 5 p.m. at Cene Park.
“Both teams played great, pretty much mistake-free baseball and obviously both pitchers did a heck of a job,” Lakeview coach Ron DeJulio said. “It’ll be interesting to see tomorrow who’s gonna come out for both teams.”
Safe to say, it’ll be hard to top Monday’s mound performances.
LeMasters and Knight each pitched eight innings while allowing just one earned run apiece. Even more, each came up clutch, stranding runners in scoring position in the seventh and eighth innings.
“It was a hard fought game,” Knight said. “Having your defense play so well for eight innings is a pitchers dream.
“[In the clutch] I just tried to stay calm, take a deep breath and throw strikes.”
Knight threw plenty, racking up nine strikeouts while walking just one batter. The only run he allowed came in the bottom of the fourth inning when Lakeview’s Chris Romano doubled to score Evan Olbrych.
“My off-speed was working well — I got into that quick,” Knight said. “It was just a nice day out here and my arm was feeling good.”
Same goes for LeMasters, who tallied 11 strikeouts while walking four and allowing three hits.
“He’s been like this since he was a sophomore,” DeJulio said. “He’s a great kid and there’s a reason he earned himself a scholarship to Lake Erie College. He did a great job of throwing strikes early.”
Still, LeMasters had a rough third inning. Poland’s Nick Maillis reached on an error, he walked Marty Malenic and Chase Knodle reached on a bunt single to load the bases.
LeMasters then walked Sonny Lipari for Poland’s (4-2) only run of the game before preceding to strike out the next three hitters in order.
“I had to get my curveball going — not drop my elbow and get some better break,” LeMasters said. “But I just had to [get out of the jams] for my team. If I didn’t get the job done, we weren’t gonna have a chance to win.”
Lakeview (3-3) finished with four hits, while Poland had only three. Considering the pitching matchup, Poland coach Rich Murray said it was just the type of game he expected.
“We knew it would be low scoring and were hoping to get a couple runs,” Murray said. “And when we got a couple base runners we couldn’t do anything — couldn’t get a timely hit.
“But we’re actually happy to get out of here with the chance to play an inning tomorrow and get a ‘W.’”