Baseball: Lakewood’s bats are hotter than Gisele

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I remember Coach Spud O’Neil telling me how inexperienced his Lakewood Lancers are. I remember him saying how their bats were as flat as pancakes. I remember him explaining his plans for a ‘Back to Basics’ clinic, working his greenhorns through drills like slapping the ball the other way, laying down bunts and hitting cut-off men.

I also remember thinking venerated Coach Spud had slipped into one of those dismal ‘rebuilding years’ with a team with a sub-.500 record.

Man, I was wrong.

Coach Spud knew exactly what to do -- the ‘Back to Basics’ trick worked as his squad has launched to the top of the Moore League with a 5-0 record. At the moment, the Lancers’ offense is hotter than Gisele Bundchen, racking up 29 runs over the weekend. First, they KO’d Long Beah Millikan on Friday, 15-13, then laid a 14-8 smackdown on Ventura yesterday.

Now, Lakewood (13-9) has its biggest exam coming up -- a Wednesday showdown at the intimidating digs of the defending national champs, Long Beach Wilson (17-3-1, 4-1-0).

-- Anthony Stitt

-- Image from www.eonline.com