Cavs play on Harbor Park’s big stage
Published 7:45 pm Saturday, May 8, 2010
NORFOLK – For the second straight season, the Lakeland Cavalier baseball squad had the opportunity to play on the same field the likes of David Wright and Matt Wieters have called home before going on to being stars in the majors.
Friday at Harbor Park, with a beautiful spring day to boot, the final outcome for the Cavs was the only problem as Oscar Smith won the Southeastern District game 4-1.
Lakeland routed the Tigers 11-1 earlier this season in Suffolk. The second time around, Lakeland’s bats never got going as three Tiger pitchers held Lakeland to a three-hitter.
A crowd of a couple hundred fans enjoyed the game, the park and the sun. The Cavaliers and Tigers were the undercard for a Tides game against Toledo, which wound up being a 3-2 Norfolk win in 12 innings, later in the evening.
After Oscar Smith took the lead with a run in the home half of the second, Lakeland tied the game in the next half-inning.
Daniel Fenton started the inning, reaching first with a swinging bunt single. Brandon Snook’s sacrifice bunt moved Fenton to second and Fenton raced around on two wild pitches to make it 1-1.
Oscar Smith answered with two runs in the bottom of the third. Lakeland’s last hit of the afternoon came with two outs in the fourth inning.
Lakeland (3-13, 2-12) has four games left on its schedule, all against teams in the top half of the Southeastern. The Cavaliers go to Indian River Tuesday for a 5:30 p.m. start.