Baseball: Lakeland Beats Harrison to Take Home Championship Title

Fans at Dutchess Stadium watched Lakeland get crowned as the Section 1 Class A champion after defeating Harrison 4-1, and Coach Dennis Robinson and his brother Mike earn their 600^th career victory together Thursday night.

All year No. 2 Lakeland (20-4) has been relying on New York State Gatorade Player of the Year Jonathan de Marte (10-1). Last night he proved once again what he was capable of.

The junior hurler Jonathan de Marte (10-1), earned the MVP award against No. 8 Harrison (15-9). De Marte did so by throwing a complete game, striking out nine and walking none.

"I was throwing a lot of strikes," de Marte said. "I don't think I threw as many first-pitch strikes as I should have, but I was throwing a lot of strikes overall and I didn't walk anybody, so that helped. Our defense just was able to make the plays."

Lakeland's offense also came up with the plays it needed scoring its first two runs in the bottom of the first inning. Matt Pihota led off and reached second on an error, got to third on a balk before scoring on wild pitch.

Then with one out, Chris Salvo, who was 2 for 3 with an RBI, doubled, stole third and came home on a single to center by de Marte, who was 2 for 2 with 2 RBI.

"We wanted to get off to a good start and get some runs on the board," Salvo said. "It relaxed us a little bit."

Lakeland continued to add to its lead when Eric Giancola walked, stole second and was driven in on a single by de Marte in the third inning. Salvo then drove in a run himself when his base hit in the fifth knocked in Justin McCarthy, who reached base on walk, to put the Hornets up 4-0.

Harrison prevented a shutout with a single run in the seventh, but that wasn't enough to take away the crown from a Hornet squad that was ecstatic to win after losing to Somers 3-0 in last year's championship game when they were no-hit by Dan Zlotnick.

"This is so much sweeter because of last year," Salvo said. "We just didn't want to have the same feeling as last year. We got the job done this year."

Championship game MVP player de Marte agreed.

"Winning the championship means a lot with everyone returning, our coaches and everyone else," he said. "It was a big win."

Head coach Dennis Robinson said the win was possible because of an all-around team effort.

"Jon was great," Dennis Robinson said. "Pitching is 90, 99 percent of the game. Chris Salvo had a phenomenal game. David Judisky he's leading the section in hitting. The fact is there is no really one person."

Robinson also expressed the importance of having his brother co-coach the team.

"My brother Mike rules the ship," he said. "I am just the pitching coach and the outfield coach. What we have done would not have happened if he wasn't there doing it with us."

Mike Robinson further stressed how important family is at Lakeland, as he pointed to his brother Ernie, a former Hornet assistant, who was in the stands.

"Ernie did it with us for almost 10 years," Mike Robinson said. "It's a lot of work. We put a lot of time into. It's not just baseball, it's more of a family type thing."