Firebirds' Dreisbach nails 200th
Lakota West moves to 15-0 with a 3-2 win over Mason and extends winning streak to 25 games.
PHOTOS: View photos from the game
Thursday, April 24, 2008
The Lakota West baseball team's winning streak continues, and at the same time, coach Bill Dreisbach reached a record milestone.
The Firebirds captured a 3-2 victory over visiting Mason on Wednesday, April 23, delivering Dreisbach his 200th win as the program's leader.
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Get latest headlines via RSS feeds"It's special," Dreisbach said. "Not for me, but for the program. We've had great kids over the first 10½ years. It's a nice achievement for our program."
With runners on first and second in the top of the seventh, senior Craig Gauden relieved starter Nathan Smith to record the final two outs and close the door on West's 15th straight win and 25th overall dating back to the '07 campaign.
It was Gauden's sixth save, giving him the single-season school record and tying the career mark.
"Get the first batter out," Gauden said. "We had a feeling (Scott Klever) was going to bunt, so just get some good pitches on him. I was able to get him out and shut down their best hitter (Bryan Apking)."
Mason drew first blood in the third on John Desotelle's run-scoring double. The Firebirds came right back with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the frame on back-to-back RBI hits by Ricky Finley and Bryan Beaver.
Jimmy Brenneman connected for his third home run of the season in the fifth for a 3-1 West edge.
Mason pinch-runner Kyle Dooley scored on a throwing error by catcher Justin Vaske in the sixth to cut the deficit to one.
After Smith (5-0) struck out Grant Lewis to begin the seventh, Nick Kowalczyk and Ryan Collins responded with hits. Klever, a sophomore, could not get a bunt down to move the runners over for Apking.
Apking flied out to left fielder Matt Foor to end the game.
"You've got to get your job right," said Mason coach Ken Gray, whose squad lost to West 11-0 the day before. "We've got our best hitter coming up — the kid we want up — so give us a chance. You've got to execute somewhere."
Smith, the junior left-hander, allowed two runs (one earned), five hits and struck out five, while Lewis (6 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 6 Ks) fell to 3-1 on the mound.
West (15-0, 12-0) now has a commanding four-game lead in the Greater Miami Conference standings. Mason falls to 9-7, 8-4.
Contact this reporter at (513) 755-5113 or smatthews@coxohio.com.
