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Schools

Lacey Survives Barnegat Rally with Extra Inning Win

Lacey pitcher Donovan Waller shines with 12 strike outs in five innings.

After squandering a 5-2 lead against the Bengals and going into extra innings, Lacey was determined to come out on top. With the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth and one out, freshman Eric Reitmeyer got the two biggest strikeouts of his young career to preserve the tie.

In the top of the seventh Patrick Jensen was stranded at third to end the inning, setting the stage for him to single in the go-ahead RBI in the eighth. Scoring the winning run was Eric Reitmeyer who got on base with a one out single.

"You definietely want to give him a chance," said Mahar, who appeared to be cautious sending runners with his big bat coming up. "Couple that with an earlier base running mistake, I'd never want to do anything to take the bat out of his hands."

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Jensen was hitting .479 coming into today and added two more hits today, going 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and two RBI's.

Stealing the story, however, was sophomore Donovan Waller with five innings pitched, two runs allowed, and 12 electrifying strike outs.

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"Early in the season we had some trouble with our starters," said Lacey head coach Jack Mahar. "Now, we have had six straight great starts, including a game against Central Regional last week where the pitchers struck out 11."

In the first inning, Lacey ran into some trouble as Barnegat scored two quick runs. After the first, Waller would not yield another hit until the first -- even more amazing, he struck out eight of the next nine to face him. After an error aided Barnegat to score their third run, Waller told Mahar his arm was tiring out.

"At that point, to me, it's no question on what you have to do," said Mahar, who replaced Waller to start the sixth inning. "His safety comes first, this game is not more important than his career."

Barnegat soon rallied to tie the game, before Reitmeyer's big strikeouts got them out of the jam.

The Lions added to their lead over the middle innings by capitalizing on Bengal mistakes. Lacey fell into an early hole down 2-0, looking as if they were still thinking about Saturday's big Ocean County Tournament win. Any thought of that was quickly removed with Lacey scoring in each of the next three innings.

Matt Cecere leadoff the top of the second inning with a hit, and would score when Pat Schinder reached on an error. Brian Emerson followed with a hit that brought home Schinder to tie the score at two in the second. Lacey would take the lead as Anthony Marrotta scored after reaching on an error, being knocked in by a Jensen double that went off the wall.

The Lions added to their 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fourth as Nick Breden drew a leadoff walk. Schinder followed the walk with a double, splitting the left-center gap. Two batters later Eric Reitmeyer drove him in with a single as the Lions held a 5-2 lead.

Eric Reitmeyer went 2-for-4 with a run scored and a RBI.

Despite the on and off offense, it was not for a lack of power. The Lions took good cuts, cracking the ball to all fields, sometimes, just right at Bengals.

"That happens sometimes," said Mahar. "We hit the balls right on the screws a couple of times, it just happened to be right at them."

Lacey will be back in action on Tuesday, as they will head to Pinelands Regional for a 3:30 game.

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