Panthers hand Bulldogs first region loss of season

Lakeside High School baseball coach T.J. Davis said he likes the way his team is swinging the bat after it beat county rival Harlem 7-5 on Friday.

//

The Panthers, who beat Glenn Hills 15-0 earlier in the week, improved to 2-1 in Region 3-AAAA. They play at Richmond Academy today.

"We're still leaving too many guys on base, but I think overall, we're coming around," Davis said after his team's win at Harlem. "We're starting to hit the ball a lot better than we were as far as line drives, base hits."

The Bulldogs entered the game having won six of their first seven games to start the season, including a 2-0 start in Region 3-AAAA.

After facing a 6-0 deficit to Lakeside, the Bulldogs made an effort to climb back. They scored their first run in the bottom of the fifth, and two more in the sixth.

Harlem senior Patrick Gamblin led off the bottom of the seventh with a solo home run, and the Bulldogs had the tying run on second when the game ended.

"I like the way we came back," Harlem coach Jimmie Lewis said. "We could have folded the tent and got our brains beat out, but we came back."

Lakeside pitcher Harrison Brawley kept the Bulldogs in check, mixing his pitches and hitting spots while shutting out the Bulldogs through four innings.

Brawley left after the sixth, with a 7-3 lead, and senior Patrick Arrington escaped the seventh to give Brawley the win.

"You can't ask anything other than that out of a pitcher," Arrington said of Brawley. "He threw a great game."

Panthers junior Ben Black led off the game with a double and later scored. Lakeside added three more in the third on only one hit.

Phillip Summers started for the Bulldogs and gave way to senior Derek Clayton in the top of the fifth.

Clayton inherited a 6-0 deficit and retired nine of the 10 batters he faced.

Lakeside's Harrison Brawley earned the win.