Baseball Sweeps Alpena, Clinches Second Consecutive Postseason Appearance

Baseball went north to take on the Alpena Community College Lumberjacks in their final MCCAA Northern Conference series. 

Game one, the Lakers jumped on Alpena early and held on to a 8-5 win. Brady Alverson, Avain Rivera, Donovan Borg, Brendan Willadsen, and Beau Falkenhagen each had multi-hit games. Borg and Rivera had a double each. Rivera drove in 3 runs, Alverson drove in 2 runs, while Borg, Falkenhagen, and Brendan Mendoza each drove in 1 run. Trevor Crawford threw 5.1 innings allowing just 3 hits while striking out 10 Lumberjacks hitters. Crawford notched his 6th win of the season.

Game two, the Lakers had 13 hits and plated 11 runs in the game. Avain Rivera hit a homerun in the game while driving in 4 runs. Matt Barger, Tyler Duncan, Daniel Howell, Brody Hovey, and Brendan Willadsen each drove in a run. Borg had a pair of doubles and Willadsen had a double. Dean Sommer picked up his 6th win of the season, throwing 5 innings allowing just 2 earned runs and striking out 7 batters. Garret Hutchings closed the game out with 2 scoreless innings.

Game three was another drubbing, 10-0 Lakers. Borg hit a homerun and a double in the game while driving in 3 runs. Brendan Mendoza had a pair of hits and drove in 5 runs. Keegan Merenuk, Isiah Stoy, Mendoza and Willadsen each had two hits. Jarrett Inscho threw a 2-hit shutout over five innings. 

Game four, the bats stayed hot winning again 11-1. Rivera and Barger each had 3 hits. Borg had a pair of hits. Rivera drove in 3 runs, Barger and Hovey each drove in a pair of runs each. Alverson, Borg, Rivera, and Alex Duley each doubled. Barger had a pair of doubles. Alex Duley threw 6 innings of 1-run baseball while striking out 7 Lumberjacks.

Game five the Lakers found themselves trailing 2-1 heading into the final inning of play. After being down to their final out, an RBI double off the bat of Barger tied the game. Back to back singles from Falkenhagen and Howell plated two more runs, giving the Lakers the 4-2 advantage and they held on for the series sweep. Brendan Martin threw all 7 innings, scattering 5 hits and striking out 4.

With the series sweep, the Lakers clinched their second consecutive trip to the NJCAA Region XII Postseason Tournament. Their first round game information is still to be determined.