Lakes, Carmel battle to tie

To be continued.

That was the decision following a 1-1 tie Monday between the visiting Lakes baseball team and Carmel. Lakes coach Bill Rosencrans said the two teams will finish the game after they return from their respective spring break trips.

The season debut for both squads was halted after 8 innings on account of darkness.

"We really wanted a win, but a tie will do for now," Lakes center fielder Kevin Kelly said.

Lakes junior Travis Vanderwall pitched 4 no-hit innings. He struck out four batters and walked five. Three of those walks came in the first inning.

"He looked better than we thought for his first time out," Rosencrans said.

Vanderwall did a good job of working out of trouble in the fourth. With the bases loaded and one out, he induced a soft liner to second and a ground ball to first to end the inning.

"I just had to keep my head and hit my spots," Vanderwall said. "I was happy with the way all my pitches were working."

Lakes took a brief 1-0 lead in the fifth when Kelly led off with a double on a 2-0 curve. He came around to score when Eric Lopez singled to center.

Carmel countered in the bottom half of the inning. Second baseman Eric Stevenson reached base on a single, and he proceeded to steal second. Stevenson said he had to be careful with his lead because Lakes had a lefty, Brian Baiocchi, on the mound.

"He had a good move," Stevenson said. "I had to slide to the back of the base because I knew it was going to be close."

Stevenson ended up scoring on a pair of wild pitches for Carmel's only run. The Corsairs managed just two hits but had plenty of base-runners thanks to eight walks. Carmel stranded multiple runners in four innings.

D.J. Snelton worked the final three innings for Lakes. He limited Carmel to one hit.

"He battled and kept his composure," Rosencrans said.

Carmel also received strong pitching. Jeff Moree gave up 3 hits and struck out seven in 4 scoreless innings. Joe Burg allowed 1 run in 4 innings and seemed to get better each inning.

"We had chances to score, but I'm proud of our guys," Rosencrans said. "We played well against one of the best teams in the area."