LHS Baseball Falls in State Semifinals

Lawrence High School came up just short of reaching the finals of the NJSIAA Central Jersey Group III Tournament after a tough loss on Wednesday.

The Cardinals (9-13) fell in a heartbreaker to heavily favored Northern Burlington (21-4) by a score of 7-5. LHS jumped out early as Nick Kagel hit a two run home run in the first inning to push the Cards out to a 3-0 lead.

Kagel would finish the game 2-for-3 with two runs and two RBI. 

A four-run fourth inning for Burlington would give them the lead, followed by the Cardinals letting up one run each in the next two innings. LHS answered with two runs in the sixth, but came up short of pulling off a huge upset.

LHS was also powered by Pat Sweeney, who went 1-for-3 with a double and run scored, and Tommy Ikeda, who went 1-for-2 with an RBI. Dillon O'Brien and Jess Russo also picked up key hits in the loss.

On the mound, Russo went four innings allowing four earned runs on four hits, with two walks and three strikeouts in the losing effort.

To reach the semi-finals, LHS shutout Woodbridge High School (13-14) by a score of 5-0.

Dillon O'Brien was nearly flawless on the mound in the five-hit shutout, striking out nine and walking none.

Kagel did the damage at the plate going 1-for-2 with two RBI, and one run. Russo was a one man force of nature, filling the stat sheet. He went 2-for-2 with a walk, a double, a triple, a run scored and one RBI.

Jake Miller went 1-for-3 with an RBI, while John Turner and Mike Nguyen also had key hits for LHS in the win.