Bulldogs top Panthers, 7-2

Harlem opened its season nicely, and then found out why its opening schedule is so tough.

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The Bulldogs, playing Lakeside in a game rescheduled because of cold weather, beat the Panthers 7-2 on Thursday to open the season.

Jimmie Lewis' team, though, was clobbered by Westside 17-2 on Friday.

"They pounded the baseball," Lewis said of Westside. "There weren't any errors. It was strictly their hitting."

The Bulldogs' schedule didn't get easier. They lost 10-0 at Greenbrier Monday.

So goes the beginning of the season for Lewis, whose team is a little banged up.

"It's a murderer's schedule in the beginning," Lewis said. "But if you're going to be good, you got to play the best around."

Lakeside was set to play host to the opener for both teams Feb. 26, but rain and cold winds led both coaches to decide to reschedule.

The game was moved to Thursday at Harlem.

The sun was out, but the Panthers' bats were cold. They didn't get a hit until the fifth, an RBI single that scored Will Evans. Evans added a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh, but that was it for the Panthers' production.

The game turned in the fifth, when Lakeside starter Chris Burns deflected a potential double-play ball to keep Harlem's inning alive.

The Bulldogs tacked on five runs before the Panthers could escape.

"It could have been a 2-2 game. It could have been a 12-2 game," Lakeside coach Jay Matthews said.

Harlem rapped six hits during the fifth and might have added another if not for miscommunication between a base runner and Lewis.

"To come out in Game 1 and put that many hits together, that's what you have to do," Matthews said of Harlem's effort. "It's not often that you put five or six hits together in an inning, and they did that."