In their first home matches of the season Wednesday night, Lakeland battled visitors Bayside and Churchland in a pair of close, hard-fought matches and the Cavaliers came away with two victories.

After Churchland defeated Bayside, 54-30, in the first match of the evening, Lakeland got victories in the last two matches from Mark Verschneider (152) and Jerald Wicks (160) to seal a 47-31 win.

Then squaring off versus Churchland, Lakeland again got a needed pin from Wicks to clinch a 40-36 win.

The Lakeland vs. Bayside duel started with the 171 weight class and the opening match nearly went the distance.

With 1:23 remaining in the third period, and Cory Beale holding a 9-7 advantage, he got all six points for Lakeland with a pin.

Bayside took five of the next seven matches, with two forfeits the only matches going to the Cavaliers.

Brian Ehrenfried, wrestling at 130 for Lakeland, started to turn the score around with a dominant performance over his opponent.

With a pair of near-falls, Ehrenfried led 9-0 after the first period.

With 0:43 left in the second, Ehrenfried completed the job with a pin, making the score 27-24 Bayside.

The next two classes went to Lakeland by forfeit, then Bayside won a major decision at 145, making it a 36-31 score in Lakeland’s favor.

Still needing at least one more win at either 152 or 160, the Cavaliers got both with Verschneider taking complete control in his match for a 15-0 technical fall that was stopped with a minute left in the last round; Wicks followed that with a pin only 1:28 into his match.

Churchland and Lakeland started at 189 and Churchland seemed to be the deeper team based on their victory versus Bayside.

After dropping his match against Bayside, Shane Underwood fired Lakeland up in the opening bout.

In what seemed like a very even contest early on, Underwood had the up position on a restart and he quickly took control with a slam and a sudden pin, ending the match with 0:52 left in the first period.

Lakeland went on top, 6 to n1 as Churchland was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The next three matches went to Churchland, but heavyweight John McFerrin and Philip Ehrenfried (103) took their matches the distance, meaning the Truckers didn’t get full points.

At 112, Chase Acey got another sudden victory for the Cavaliers.

In the opening seconds, both wrestlers traded the advantage.

Then Acey slammed his opponent and stayed on top of him, pushing him down until he got the pin at the 0:58 mark of the first period.

Acey’s pin knotted the match, 12-12.

Churchland got a forfeit at 119 and a pin at 125 to retake the lead, 24-12.

B. Ehrenfried again turned the momentum for the home team.

Again Ehrenfried built a 9-0 lead, but a reversal and near-fall by the Trucker wrestler closed the gap to 9-5 heading into the third period.

In the first 30 seconds of the third, Ehrenfried scored an escape and a three-point near-fall and 13-5 would be the final score.

After a forfeit to Lakeland at 135 and a Churchland pin at 140, the Truckers led, 30-22.

After an intense match in the Bayside match, but a loss, and a bloody nose for Alex Sari, Sari rebounded when the Cavaliers needed him.

Sari won with a pin with 0:58 left in the first period, and that with a Churchland forfeit at 152 gave the Cavs the lead, 34-30, with two matches remaining.

Needing one win to clinch the team victory, Wicks was the man to do it.

After the first period, Wicks led 2-0.

Then shortly into the second period, with the score at 2-1, Wicks began a restart in the down position.

Wicks fought his way for a reversal and kept going for the pin.

Wicks’ pin made it a 10-point lead with only one match left and finished a 2-0 night for the Cavaliers.

Lakeland has another home tri-meet this coming Wednesday, with the start scheduled for 5:30 p.m.