Although he ran into some early innings trouble, sophomore pitcher Donovan Waller found his groove and pitched a complete game allowing three runs- with none coming after the second inning.
"I think he pitched great today," said Lacey head coach John Mahur. "He struggled early, but came back strong to make some pitches."
All three runs were scored before the third inning. Two of those runs were unearned as a result of defensive errors, Mahur said.
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After allowing a lead off triple, Waller only surrendered one run in the first inning, stranding two runners. In the second, a costly error would put the Lions in a 3-0 hole as three straight two out hits by Brick would produce two runs.
From that point on, Waller would slam the door shut as he would keep the Dragons off the scoreboard for the rest of the afternoon.
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In the bottom of the second, Lacey loaded the bases before baserunning errors helped aid Brick to escape from the jam. However, they would do no such favors in the third.
Instead, it was Brick's errors that would help Lacey tie the game at three.
Waller would help his own cause by reaching on an error. Ryan Reitmeyer followed suit by drawing a walk.
Nick Breden would reach on an error as well, after he tapped the ball out to the Brick pitcher, who would try for the force out at second and threw the ball off the bag.
Patrick Jensen would come to the plate and pick up a RBI as his hit up the middle scored one and kept the bases loaded for Matt Cecere. Cecere drew a walk, scoring another run.
Anthony Marotta tied the game with a hit up the middle before the inning was over.
"It's kind of expected for us to score runs like that," said Mahur "We were hitting pretty well in the preseason and did a solid job tonight."
In the bottom of the fourth, Lacey would add four more runs and chased Brick starter Cody Schnebel out of the game. Once again, Patrick Jensen came up with the bases loaded and delivered. The Lions would score again off walks and two wild pitches.
"We stayed focused and stopped chasing pitches." said Mahur, speaking of the keys to the comeback. "They threw a lot of first pitch curveballs and the plan was to try and lay off as much as possible."
Lacey would need little offense as Waller finished strong.
"It's a big win for us, they were ranked top in our division. We still have plenty of room for improvement. Defensively we need to make more plays," said Mahur.
Lacey will return to action at home on Friday, April 8 against the Barnegat Bengals, at 3:30 p.m.
