Baseball team pulls huge upset

by Eric Keppeler
Lewiston Porter Sentinel, June 2, 2007

The Lewiston-Porter varsity baseball team put together a two-game playoff win streak – including the mother of all upsets – before the Lancers’ 2007 season was ended Tuesday in the Section VI Class A quarterfinals.

The Lancers drew the No. 16 seed in Class A and had to go through the play-in round even before the pre-quarterfinals. They beat No. 17 Springville 14-3 and then stunned top-seeded Williamsville East 14-13 before falling to No. 8 Williamsville South, 6-3.

“You have to give a lot of credit to the kids,” said Lancers coach Mark Waple. “They never quit and they always thought they were in every game.”

Junior Rob Daggett did it all against Springville, twirling a five-hitter on the mound and striking out seven while holding the Griffins scoreless until the seventh inning when the game had long since been decided. Daggett also got the job done at the plate, belting a grand slam and scoring four runs.

Junior Jared Flock also homered and finished with two hits and four runs scored. Senior Pat Cousins added two hits and two runs batted in and senior Dom Massaro finished with two hits and one RBI.

In the landmark win against Williamsville East, the Lancers put up six runs in the sixth inning to go up 14-7 and then held on as the Flames’ final rally fell one run short. East answered with two runs in the bottom of the sixth and plated four more runs in the last of the seventh before the Lancers were finally able to put them in the books.

Junior Jeremy Willard went the distance on the mound for the Lancers, scattering 11 hits while striking out five. Flock smacked a two-run home run and finished with three hits, while Cousins and Daggett added two hits apiece and Sullivan Fitzgerald had one RBI.

“They hit the ball pretty well, but we did enough to win the game,” Waple said. “We lost a couple of games by one run this season, and this time we finished the job and beat a very good team. A win like this can make all the difference and give the players a lot of confidence.”

The Lancers reached the end of the line in the quarterfinals of a wide-open field as the top four seeds all had been eliminated. Lew-Port and Williamsville South were tied at 3 heading into the sixth inning, but the Billies pushed three runs across with two outs in the bottom of that frame.

Daggett continued his offensive onslaught with a two-run single and finished with two hits, while Aaron Coney added an RBI groundout to plate the Lancers’ other run.

“It was one of those tight games, when every base counts,” Waple said. “Give South credit – they were a good team. We didn’t play badly, they just played better. We put the ball in play, they just made the plays on defense. I think we played about as well as we could have.”