In on the act
Dragons put together ‘best performance of the year’ to beat Adams, 11-1, in regional semifinal
ROCHESTER HILLS » The Lake Orion Dragons scored early and often, rolling to an 11-1 victory over the Rochester Adams Highlanders in the regional semifinals Wednesday afternoon.
The game had been moved up to a 1:00 p.m. start to beat the rain forecasted for the evening, and instead the Dragons rained base hits all over the field. Lake Orion pounded out 14 hits and had a total of 20 base runners, scoring at least one run in every inning except the fourth and the sixth.
But it was the top of the third inning when Lake Orion really blew it open, batting around and scoring five times, capped off by a two-run single from Connor McCartan to turn a 3-0 game into an 8-0 game.
Everyone was in on the act as eight different Dragons had hits and six different players had RBIs, led by three hits each from Nick Nuss, Joe Bruno, and Cooper Villareal.
“We did a really good job today one through nine of getting guys on base, unselfish at bats, putting the ball in play and not striking out. I was really proud of the way we hit against a great team,” Lake Orion head coach Andrew Schramek said. “We put a lot of traffic on today, and we just hit and found barrels. This was our best performance of the year.”
On the mound, Lake Orion starter Carson Kotch was extremely effective, going the first five innings and allowing just one run on four hits against the potent Highlander lineup. The only run Adams could muster was on an RBI double by Jackson Borowski in the fourth inning. The Highlanders threatened again in the fifth, getting the first two runners on, but Kotch retired the top three hitters in order to defuse the threat.
“All the credit goes to Carson
Kotch. He threw lights out,” Adams head coach Jeff Hall said. “It never felt like we were out of it, even when we were down a good amount of runs because we can score in bunches. It just really didn’t materialize.”
The win moves Lake Orion (29-9) into the regional final on Saturday for the first time since 2013. Waiting for the Dragons is the nation’s top team, undefeated Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, which will enter the game on a 61-game winning streak dating back to the middle of last season.
“I know we’re playing the No. 1 team in the country. They’re great one through however many guys they have on the team. But we’re just happy to be where we are right now. We look forward to Saturday. We’re still playing,” Schramek said.
The game is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. at Novi. Rochester Adams ends the year 33-7. The Highlanders will graduate seven players from this year’s team.
“We had a great year. Hats off to our team, our senior class, and the great leadership that they had. It’s not the way you want to go out, obviously, but it doesn’t take away from all they accomplished this year,” Hall said.