LAKEWOOD RANCH — The Lakewood Ranch seniors delivered a message Friday during the final home game of their careers. Despite an up-and-down season with a losing record, the Mustangs rose up to snap Braden River’s 14-game winning streak, ending the regular season with a 5-4 victory. With the district tournament starting Tuesday against Charlotte, the Mustangs are supremely hopeful.
“Our momentum changed drastically in our favor,” pitcher Cas Dean said. “We’re doing all the right things.”
Certainly, that wasn’t the case two months ago when the Pirates defeated Lakewood Ranch 7-5 at Braden River. Coach Mike Mullen had a long meeting after that game and benched some of his seniors in favor of freshmen.
“I sent that message and my seniors responded,” Mullen said. “This is it. They’ve earned the right to play.”
The Mustangs start a full lineup of seniors, and they all made their presences felt Friday. Aaron Ball had a RBI double in the first inning and scored when Dean reached on an error. The Mustangs (11-14) capitalized on another error in the second inning as Josh Russell led off with a walk and came home on a dropped flyball in right field.
Dean made it stand up against a powerful Braden River lineup, yielding just an unearned run in the first three innings. Dean pushed the lead to 4-0 with a RBI single in the third inning, scoring Michael Ohlman after he opened the inning with a hit by pitch. Dean had air tight defense behind him, especially on the infield, which has been the case throughout the last month as the Mustangs racked up wins against Cardinal Mooney and Pendleton.
“We’re not overconfident, but we proved to ourselves that we can compete at any level,” Mullen said.
For the Pirates (21-3), it was tough to watch their incredible winning streak come to the end at the hands of the rival Mustangs. The two errors in the first two innings put the Pirates in a hole, but they didn’t let their winning streak die easily. Mick Olitsky got Braden River on the scoreboard in the third inning, scoring on David Strohfus’ double after the Mustangs right fielder couldn’t handle the ball. The Pirates chipped away another run an inning later as Mike Petrilla singled home Tyler King. The rally ended when Olitsky struck Stephen Fischer with a batted ball for the third out.
“We put the pressure on, tried to get some things going together,” Braden River coach Ryan Hilton said. “But their guys played pretty much error free.”
Shane Davidson’s fourth-inning RBI single, one of his three hits, had the Mustangs up 5-1, but the Pirates didn’t relent. Nathan Pittman’s speed accounted for the third run as he bunted for a single leading off the fifth inning before stealing second base. He tagged up on a fly ball to right field and scored on a ground out. With one out in the seventh, Pittman doubled and scored all the way from second on Strohfus’ groundout to second. However, the Mustangs clinched the big upset when senior Ryan Lawler retired Blayne Lee on a grounder to Davidson at shortstop.
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