By Anthony Schulte
Sports Contributor
ORION TWP. — The Lake Orion Dragons varsity baseball team had a full schedule of games slated for last week, but a series of rainstorms wiped the schedule clean.
Games against Lapeer, Frankenmuth and Warren De La Salle were all scratched due to weather and field conditions.
The Dragons were looking to win both games of an opening day double-header on Saturday against the Walled Lake Western Warriors. Lake Orion did just that.
Game one saw Dragon dominance through all five innings played, with Lake Orion winning 11-0.
Three pitchers combined for a shutout. Kael Gahan started the contest for Lake Orion but was taken out of the game due to a 20-pitch pitch count in the second inning. Casey Robertson and Travis Acker also toed the rubber and helped keep Walled Lake Western from scoring.
The flood gates opened for the Dragons offense in the second inning, scoring eight runs on six hits. This onslaught of offense ultimately led to the game ending in the fifth inning due to the mercy rule of being up 10 runs after five innings.
The second game of the double-header started 20 minutes ahead of schedule, and Walled Lake Western brought out their curveball-heavy pitcher Colin Harper to combat the hot Dragon offense.
Harper cooled down the Dragon offense with a consistent curveball, which he used for most of the outing.
Lake Orion starting pitcher Evan Rawlings struggled in the first inning, giving up a quick run to the Warriors.
However, Walled Lake Western did not score again in the contest thanks to great innings from Rawlings, Kyle Purdy, Evan Dempsey and Michael Jockwig.
The Orion offense woke up in the sixth inning, scoring two runs off a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch from Warriors relief pitcher Chase Schwierking.
Jockwig pitched the final three outs in the top of the seventh, earning his first save of the year for Lake Orion and helping the Dragons complete a 2-1 win.
The Dragons are now 2-0 on the season and travel to Rochester High School on Tuesday after Review press time. Lake Orion’s next home game is 4:30 p.m. Thursday against Rochester.