A Lambert offense that was averaging more than nine runs per game coming into the Class AAAAAA baseball championship series was held to three runs in the first two games Saturday at Milton.
The Longhorns (35-2) managed just enough offense in the opener to escape with a 2-1 victory, but they had a tougher time against Milton’s Alex Schnell in the second game and lost 5-1.
That left the best-of-three series tied at one game each and heading to a decisive Game 3 at 3 p.m. Monday at Milton. Lambert, ranked No. 1 nationally by USA Today, is seeking the first baseball title in the program’s five-year history. Milton is the defending state champion and seeking its fourth title overall.
Schnell, a Clemson signee, improved to 10-2 for the season with the complete-game victory. He held Lambert to three hits, striking out nine and walking five. His only trouble came in the sixth inning, when Lambert loaded the bases with no outs on a walk, a single by J.D. Dutka and a hit batter. But the Longhorns’ only run came on a one-out walk by Tucker Maxwell, and Schnell struck out Ian Kimbrell and Kyle McCann to end the threat.
Milton (28-8) scored two runs on errant pickoff throws but got enough timely hitting to win comfortably. Erik Peterson and Dalton Ewing each had two hits and drove in runs in the fifth inning, when Milton increased the lead to 3-0. Alex Miller had a single and drove in a run with a groundout to short in the sixth, when Milton scored twice without getting a hit.
In Game 1, Maxwell’s two-out single in the top of seventh inning drove in Dutka with the winning run. Dutka walked with one out off of Milton reliever Will Matthews and moved to second on a two-out single by Jake Chickowski. Maxwell then blooped a 1-0 pitch into center field, driving in Dutka. Maxwell, Chickowski and Dutka combined for seven of the Longhorns’ eight hits in the game. Maxwell had three singles and a walk.
Dutka pitched a complete game to improve to 11-1. He allowed seven hits while striking out three, walking two and hitting two batters. Milton starter Matt Geiger allowed just one run and six hits in six innings before giving way to Matthews after throwing 102 pitches.
Lambert sophomore Seth Beer, who came into the day hitting .624 for the season, was held hitless in the two games. He went 0-for-4 with two intentional walks and was hit by a pitch.
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