Mixing a good breaking ball with fastballs approaching 90 mph, Lakins struck out eight of the first 10 batters he faced, including seven straight. Six were called third strikes.
In the top of the third Eckley quickly got down two strikes. On the third pitch he received from Lakins he laid back and caught it on the sweet spot of his metal bat.
It was as if someone fired a cannon. The ball, just barely foul down the right-field line, landed a good 50 feet beyond the 340-foot sign on the fence.
“I got just a little too far out in front,” said Eckley. “But I really had good contact. I was hoping it would stay fair. But at least it kind of woke everyone up.”
“Lakins really had it going and we were kind of passive at the plate until P.J. hit that one,” said Bellbrook senior third baseman Vince Papi. “It wasn’t a homer, but that sound got everyone’s attention and we needed to get aggressive at the plate.”
In the fourth, Bellbrook got its first hit and put the ball in play on each out, but Franklin still held a 2-0 lead.
In the fifth, the Eagles scored all six of their runs on two walks, five Franklin throwing errors and a two-run single by Papi.
“They were a little shook after making so many errors (four on four straight plays) so I jumped on the first pitch,” said Papi. “That was one of the biggest hits I’ve ever had (a bouncer between shortstop and third base).
“I thought they might have a play, but the ball got through and we scored two more big runs.”
With the lead, Bellbrook’s Nathan Coffey kept getting stronger, retiring 15 of the last 16 he faced. His record is 3-1, while Lakins is 4-2.
Of the eight runs scored, none was earned with each team managing only three hits.
Bellbrook is 6-3 overall and leads the Southwestern Division of the Southwestern Buckeye League at 4-0. Franklin is 9-4 and 3-1 in the division.
“We still have a lot of divisional games to go, but this is a good win for us,” Bellbrook coach Rich Demko said. “Franklin is one of the divisional favorites. So getting them early could make a big difference later on in the season.
“It’s also a confidence-builder finally getting to Lakins after the way he handled us in the early innings.”
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