Lahser Baseball Hangs on to Beat Athens

BLOOMFIELD HILLS – The varsity baseball team’s offense is helping make up for its inconsistent defense.

Robbie Emmitt and Kyle Riley drove in six runs to help the Knights erase deficits in the third and fourth inning in a 10-8 win over Oakland Activities Association Blue rival Troy Athens on Monday.

“That’s the best part of this team, they do not quit,” said John Toth, coach of the Bloomfield Hills high school. “They know when they get down, they can turn it on and win games. They are so resilient and play so hard, as a coach I couldn’t be happier with the effort they give late in games.”

After four errors in the third helped the Red Hawks go up 4-0, Riley hit a two-run double in the bottom half of the inning to cut the lead in half.

Emmitt came up to bat later in the inning with the bases loaded. He put his team ahead 6-4 with a grand slam over the left field fence.

“He put it right spot for me, I thought I just lined it, but it just carried 'cause of the wind today,” Emmitt said of his first career slam. “I wasn’t quite sure it was going to go out.”

Any momentum Lahser (5-4; 3-1 OAA Blue division) had was quickly erased with another fielding error to open the fourth inning.

Third baseman Daniel Terlecky couldn’t field a sharply hit grounder and allowed Justin Durant to reach first base. Knights starter Jonathan Watkins had trouble working around it.

Watkins loaded the bases before Toth went to the bullpen. Jack Corbell came into the game and walked Grant Sweeney to make it 6-5. Brian Dombrowski knocked in a run on a sacrifice fly and then Logan Priebe hit a two-run double to give Athens an 8-6 lead.

“I feel bad for Watkins, he pitched great, but when we don’t make plays (in the field) we struggle,” Toth said. “We understand we’re going to make them, but we are just trying to work on limiting the errors. If we can make plays, we can win.”

Athens 2-7 (0-4 OAA Blue) blew its second lead with a defensive miscue of its own.

Charlie Dauch and Riley opened the fourth with back-to-back singles. Neal Krentz hit an RBI double to score Dauch to make it 8-7 and then Reilly Manz walked to load the bases for the second time in as many innings.

The miscue came after Tommy Eng easily threw out Terlecky at first base on a fielder’s choice. Riley scored from third on the play to tie the game while Krentz tried to advance to third.

Sweeney tried to throw out Krentz from first, but the ball sailed over the third baseman’s head, allowing two more runs to score.

“We get the guy at first then throw it away at third,” Athens coach Mike Morris said. “Two runs score and it just kept multiplying from there. We have to find ways to close the door on teams.”

Corbell settled down and pitched scoreless fifth and sixth innings. Patrick Monahan came in for the seventh inning and stranded a runner at second base for his first save of the season.

Riley reached base four times, finishing the game 3-for-3 with a walk. He had two stolen bases to go with his two RBIs. Manz also reached base four times. He was 2-for-2 with two walks and two runs.

For the Red Hawks, Eng finished the game 1-for-4 with an RBI and a run. He hit a deep fly ball in the fourth inning that was nearly a three-run homerun. Priebe was 2-for-4 with two doubles and three RBIs.