SARNIA – Unlucky number seven.
In their season opener, the Lambton Men’s Baseball program faltered in the seventh inning, allowing seven runs to the Humber Hawks in what was ultimately the difference. Humber spoiled the home opener for the Lions, coming away with a 9-2 win at Errol Russell Park.
On the heels of a 2021 season that saw the Lions secure the program’s first-ever win in the OCAA, the program came into the year looking to continue their positive progression. With several newcomers on the roster, many of whom are no strangers to baseball in the Sarnia-Lambton area, there was a renewed buzz within the group heading into Saturday.
Cole Hudson (Wyoming, Ont.) got the ball on the mound for the Lions and opened the game strong. In the top of the first, Hudson stranded the bases loaded, striking out the Humber catcher to end the first inning. He then put together back-to-back innings of three up, three down baseball to keep Humber’s high octane offense at bay.
The Lions broke through first in the bottom half of the first inning. Caden Turnbull (Wyoming, Ont.) opened the game with a walk, while Ryan Janjatovic (Corunna, Ont.) was hit by a pitch in the next at-bat. Turnbull stole his way around the bases, racking up three stolen bases and scoring the team’s first run of the season.
It wasn’t until the fourth inning that Humber would break through on the scoreboard. The Hawks got a two out, two-run double from shortstop David Boatto to take a 2-1 lead. The Lions answered right back in the bottom half, as back-to-back doubles from Aaron Golab (Windsor, Ont.) and Kaymond Turner (Corunna, Ont.) tied the game up at 2-all.
That was all the offense until the seventh inning, when the wheels seemingly fell off for the Lions. Hudson hit the first Humber batter of the inning, and Boatto stepped up and hit a two-run home run to put the Hawks ahead for good. Jackson Fawdry (Sarnia, Ont.) came on in relief of Hudson and the Hawks added five more runs thanks in part to three Lambton fielding errors.
Hudson was strong on the mound despite coming away with the loss. He threw six-plus innings, allowing four runs on five hits while striking out four and walking just one batter. Ronan Hayes picked up the win for the Hawks after throwing 3 2/3 innings of no-hit baseball in relief of starter Maxim Skoropadsky.
In Game Two, the Lions were no-hit by Humber starter Aidan Murphy in a 14-0 loss.