Panthers shut out Wolfpack
Lakeside's Paul Bordon (right) is congratulated by teammate Craig Smith after scoring off a hit from J.C. Huffman in the sixth inning of the game against Greenbrier. The Panthers defeated the Wolfpack 2-0 to sweep the regular season for the first time. Lakeside pitcher Sean Harrell pitched 6Q innings, giving up no runs and five hits.
Photo by Chris Thelen
It would have been an understatement to say Lakeside had a chip on its shoulder when it took on Greenbrier on Tuesday.
The Panthers were the only of the county's three teams from Region 2-AAAA unranked even though they held victories over Evans and Greenbrier, both of which had held the state's No. 1 ranking at some point this season.
Lakeside (9-8, 4-3) won't go underappreciated any longer after beating the third-ranked Wolfpack, 2-0, at home Tuesday night. The win completed the first season sweep of Greenbrier in school history.
Senior pitcher Sean Harrell pitched 6 1/3 innings, giving up no runs and five hits. He also knocked in the go-ahead run on a one-out single in the fifth inning to make the score 1-0.
"I just think I'm pitching really well right now," Harrell said. "The team is starting to come together and we are playing really good baseball for the most part."
The only real trouble Harrell got into came in the second inning when Greenbrier had the bases loaded with no outs. But Harrell struck out Rafael Parks, and Brad Ramsbotham hit into a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat.
"That was huge for me," Harrell said. "My defense was good all night, but that was the biggest play. That really pumped me up."
J.C. Huffman hit a double to knock in Paul Bordon and give the Panthers an insurance run and a 2-0 lead.
Greenbrier got runners on the corners with one out in the seventh inning, but Tyler James came in and struck out Parks and Ramsbotham to end the game.
"Give Lakeside all the credit in the world," Greenbrier coach Ed Williams said. "They did what they needed to do to win and (Harrell) pitched a great game. We just have to hit the ball better."
The Lakeside win jumbled the race for the Region 2-AAAA North subregion championship. All three county schools have at least two region losses.
The top two teams in the subregion, in which Evans and Lakeside are in control of their own fate, will play host to a best-of-three series in the region tournament with the winners of the first round games advancing to the state playoffs. The rest of the region tournament will be for seeding.