LAKE CITY — The Lake City baseball team is going into the Division 3 district tournament game against Roscommon this Saturday, June 1, with a truck load of momentum. The tournament draw placed the Trojans in a pre-district clash with Houghton Lake on Tuesday and they put on an impressive performance, outscoring Houghton Lake by a 17-6 margin. The game was played at Lake City but with Houghton Lake as the home team by virtue of the tournament draw.
Lake City assaulted Bobcat pitching, recording 20 hits in the game, including six extra-base hits, in support of reliable mound ace Job Rogers, who stayed in the strike zone and went the full seven inning distance in gaining the victory.
The Trojans turned in a solid showing defensively too, particularly junior third sacker Kurtis Miles, who gobbled up everything that came his way and sprinkled in a few web gems too. Kurtis finished with a game-high eight putouts.
Lake City was aggressive on the base paths too, stealing eight bases.
It was the most complete performance of the season for Lake City, which won its 10th game. The win couldn’t have come at a better time as the Trojans play in a district, that is there for taking, on Saturday. Lake City faces Roscommon at 10 a.m. in the opening game and host Manton plays Grayling in the other semifinal at noon.
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Lake City coach Will Eubank was pleased with what he saw on the home field Tuesday, especially in light of the Trojans’ chief goal coming into this season.
“Our number one goal all year has been to win districts,” Eubank said after Tuesday’s decisive victory.
“Lake City hasn’t won a district since ’98 and we want this to be the year. The guys have matured since the start of the season and they’re playing pretty well right now. We need to continue this same kind of focus when we face Roscommon.”
Eubank liked the focus he saw from his team on Tuesday.
“The kids are seeing the ball well right now and making good decisions with the bat,” the veteran coach noted. “They’re being selective in their hitting.”
The impressive thing for Lake City was that everyone was making solid contact, not just a few. The Trojans pounded the ball up and down the lineup, with six of the starters collecting multiple hits. That led to Lake City scoring three runs in the top of the third, four more in the fifth, four more in the sixth, and five more in the seventh.
It was a towering two-out RBI triple by right fielder Jase Goodrich in the third that seemed to ignite the offensive fireworks on Tuesday. Jase’s drive, which clanged off the fence, drove in senior shortstop Tyler Atkins, who had singled and driven in junior center fielder Cole McGiness, who had also singled and stolen second base.
Jase’s long drive was then followed by a screaming line drive to right by Miles, whose productive day at the plate was just beginning, as it turned out. Lake City led 4-0 at that point.
By the fifth inning, everyone in the Lake City lineup was timing the pitches nicely and putting the ball in play. Oddly, the Trojans scored 17 runs in a game where they only drew one walk. The Houghton Lake pitchers were staying around the plate and the Lake City hitters were ripping away.
Miles proved to be the most effective of the Trojans swinging the aluminum on Tuesday. The Houghton Lake pitchers must have grimaced when they saw the bespectacled Kurtis coming up to hit with runners on base. Kurtis cracked four hits in all, including two doubles, and knocked in five of Lake City’s runs.
And he wasn’t alone by any means.
Goodrich generated three hits in all, including a triple and a double, and finished just a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. He knocked in two runs and scored four times. The active Atkins had three hits and knocked in three and he also had three stolen bases. Job generated three hits to help his own cause and knocked in a run too.
Catcher Ethan Goodrich had a good day as well, drilling an RBI double and also doing an excellent job behind the plate working in tandem with Job.
Left fielder Asheton Mathison muscled out two hits and scored twice. Cole connected for two hits with an RBI and scored three times. Second baseman Teague Helsel bunted for a base hit and knocked in a run. Pinch-hitter Blake “Burt” Brown joined the hit parade also, drilling a sharp single in his one at-bat.
Rogers made sure the big lead held as he challenged the Bobcat hitters all day. He allowed eight hits and struck out two with no walks. Only two of the six Bobcat runs were earned. Lake City played well defensively overall but had two errors in the bottom of the sixth, the only mishaps of the day, and that led to four Bobcat runs scoring.
Eubank was naturally very pleased with job that Job did on the bump and the way he and Ethan worked together as the battery.
“Job was very steady,” Eubank said. “He and Ethan had a good chemistry going. We played pretty well defensively for the most part but when we did make a few errors Job never got rattled. He went right back at it.”
Lake City played Roscommon in a Highland Conference twinbill during the regular season and split the pair.
