Iowa Lakes took their talents to Mason City, Iowa on Saturday to take on the Trojans from North Iowa Area Community College to start four game series with the first pitched scheduled for an early afternoon start at 2 pm. The Lakers would fall in game one of the doubleheader by a final score of 10-3 and lose the second game of the doubleheader 13-12 on a heartbreaking walkoff single. 

Game one for the Lakers would see them get behind early within the first three innings of the game when the Tojans offense would pair of two-run homerun's in the first and second innings as well as an RBI double and a RBI single in the third inning to give them a 7-0 advantage. With the Lakers battling on the mound to keep the game close, they would get a run back in the top of the fifth when Tavan Shahidi (Ames, Iowa) would blast a solo homerun to left-center field to put the Lakers on the scoreboard and the score now at 7-1. However, the Trojans would answer back in the bottom of sixth with a three-run homerun of their own to increase their lead to 10-1. Although the deficit was nine runs, the Lakers offense would show no quiet in them as they would bounce back thanks to a two-run homerun by Ashtin Moxey (Jacksonville, Florida) with two-outs in the inning to shrink the lead 10-3. Despite a spark from the Iowa Lakes offense, the Trojans would close the door and take game one.

Freshman pitcher Evan Sankey (Appleton, Wisconsin) would be given the ball in game two and would have one of his best outings of the year as he battled and tamed the mighty Trojan offense early on the game by just giving up the two runs in the first two innings before the Lakers offense would join in on the homerun parade in the top of the third inning. With two outs to start the inning off, Spencer Keane (Palm Springs, California) would reach base on a bunt single down the third base line and would advance to second on an error with Chipper Holland (Tampa, Florida) reaching base as well on that error. Shahidi would come again with a chance to do some damage and he would do just that as he would hit a no doubter to centerfield for a three-run homerun to give the Lakers the lead 3-2. With Sankey continuing to show his dominant stuff on the mound, he would only allow two more runs while on the hill in the fourth inning before he would be taken out. With NIACC putting up two runs in the sixth and seventh innings respectively, the Lakers offense would have their most impressive offense inning of the year against some of the best arms that NIACC has to offer. Keane and Holland would lead things off the same exact way they did in the third inning as Keane would bunt for a basehit and Holland would reach on a error that would advance Keane to second base. Shahidi would single in the next at bat to bring home Keane from second base. Moxey would walk to load the bases up before Dillon Van Oosbree (Emmetsburg, Iowa) would reach base on a throwing error by the first baseman that would sail in to left which would score both Holland from third and Shahidi from second base. With one-out and runners on first and second, Luis Cintron (Yabuccoa, Puerto Rico) would come up with his biggest at bat of the year. With two strike on him, Cintron would drive the pitch over the left-centerfield fence for a three-run homerun and put the Lakers on top 10-8 and giving the Lakers all the momentum in the game. With Iowa Lakes leading 10-8, the Trojans would answer with a run of their own in the eighth inning on an RBI single. The Lakers offense would continue their hot bats in the top of the ninth when Holland would lead the inning off with a single to left field which was then followed up by a Shahidi double down the left field line to put runners at second and third with nobody out. Moxey would come up clutch with a two-run single to centerfield to push the Lakers lead to 12-9 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning. However, the Trojans would not stay quiet for long as they would tie the game up with a three-run home run to right-center field and win the game on a walk off single to center making the final score 13-12. 

The Lakers are back in action Sunday (4/29) against the NIACC Trojans with a doubleheader to finish the four game series. First pitch is scheduled for 2 pm. Follow @Lakerbaseball to get all of the live in-game updates and final results as well as other information regarding Iowa Lakes Baseball.