Adkins Dominates, Lakeside Beats Bluegrass by Tanner Hesterberg
Senior pitcher Jonathan Adkins was nearly perfect on the mound, surrendering no hits and recording 16 strikeouts as the Lakeside Christian Academy baseball team defeated Bluegrass Baptist (Lexington) 4-0, Saturday at Don Hardin Field.
“Honestly, I was just trying to throw strikes,” Adkins said of his impressive performance. “My teammates deserve a lot of credit for playing great defense.” Adkins retired the first twelve batters he faced. Nine of those were strikeouts. “That’s the reason Jonathan is the number one pitcher in our rotation,” said head coach Rob Taylor. “Pitching is not an easy thing to do. You have to be mentally tough, and there’s no one better at getting mentally prepared for a game than him.”
Lakeside started the game hot and never looked back. After setting down the Bluegrass batters in order to start the game, the Falcons led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk to shortstop Elliot Collett. Two batters later, Adkins singled to advance Collett to second base. Senior Abe Rafat then roped a single to right field allowing Collett and Adkins to score giving LCA a 2-0 advantage.
Adkins made quick work of Bluegrassin the second inning, forcing clean-up batter Clint Underwood to pop out to second base and then striking out pitcher Andrew Peel and second baseman Josh Branham, respectively. However, the second inning was unkind to the Lakeside batters, as well. Left-fielder Dalton Collett led off with a sharp single up the middle, but was eventually thrown out trying to steal third base. The Falcons couldn’t muster up any more offense, but the lead stood at 2-0 after two innings. Consequently, Adkins turned up the heat on the mound. He fanned five of the next six Eagle hitters, giving him a perfect game after three innings.
“He was really focused at that point,” Coach Taylor noted. Lakeside did some buiness in the bottom of the fourth. Dalton Collett drew a walk and was spelled by pinch-runner Quentin Nunn. After stealing second and third, Nunn reached home on a wild pitch making the score 3-0. In the fifth inning, shortstop Matt Peel became Bluegrass' first base runner when Lakeside committed its first error. However, a couple of pitches later, Peel was picked off by Adkins killing any hopes of an Eagle rally.
The sixth inning was even more demoralizing for Bluegrass, as Adkins struck out the side. “I mixed my curveball in on those three batters,” Adkins admitted. “I tried to keep them guessing.” Lakeside added one more run in the bottom of the sixth when catcher Ethan Maggard collected an infield hit, scoring Adkins and upping the lead to 4-0. A no-hitter was now three outs away.
If Adkins felt any pressure, he sure didn’t show it. He struck out designated-hitter Jake Snowden, but then gave up a walk to right-fielder Scott Patton. Third-baseman Josh Haggard struck out swinging, and centerfielder Christian Williams followed suit. And the rest, as they say, is history.
“Its certainly feels special,” Adkins said, referring to the no-hitter. “Most pitchers never get to experience this. But, this win was not about one person, it was about the team.”
Adkins’ second win of the season was also Lakeside’s second, to go along with one loss. Meanwhile, Bluegrass dropped to 0-1. The Eagles never advanced a runner past first base.“Fundamentally, I see some areas we need to improve,” Taylor observed. “But I am confident when Jonathan takes the mound. He’s one of those guys that makes everyone around him play better.” Lakeside will travel to Portsmouth, Ohio on Tuesday to play Harvest Christian Academy.