Lake Central's Jimmy McNamara (2012: Central Michigan) left a few balls up in the strike zone early, leading to a two run first for Portage. However, soon after the damage was done, McNamara started dealing, and the Lake Central bats came through, leading to a 7-3 victory over Portage.

As McNamara struck out the first batter he faced, Senior Travis Marsh (2012) doubled and then Gabe Acevedo (2012: Western Illinois) homered to take an early 2-0 lead in the top half of the first. Senior rightfielder Andrew Brown (2012) would then walk, following the Acevedo homer, and catcher Zach Simmons (2012) doubled, setting up a second and third situation with one out.

With two runners in scoring position, McNamara zoned in and retired the next two hitters faced to end the threatening first inning. Portage Senior David Jercha (2012: Indiana State) had Lake Central off balance early, giving up only one hit in the first two innings pitched, while sitting 78-82mph.

Lake Central's Nick Kellams would flip the script in the bottom half of the 3rd. With the score still set at 2-0 in Portage's favor, Kellams singled to start a five run 3rd inning. Junior Ryan Burvan (2013) bunted Kellams to second, setting up an RBI situation for unsigned senior Chase Fieldhouse (2012). Fieldhouse delivered a single to score Kellams, cutting the score 2-1.

As the big innings continued for Lake Central, Austen Wagoner (2012: uncommitted) would single to start the rally once again. Wagoner would steal second, while Ryan Pachowicz (2012) would then walk, setting up McNamara at the plate. McNamara singled, scoring Wagoner and tieing the game at 2-2. With two men on, leftfielder Adam Fulk delieverd a blow, homering to dead center, scoring Pachowicz and McNamara, putting Lake Central ahead 5-2.

Lake Central would tack on two runs in the 5th, due to three walks, a balk, and a sacrifice bunt. Putting the score at 7-2. Portage would add a run in 6th off back to back hits from Zach Simmons (2012) and David Jercha (2012), followed by an RBI ground-out from Junior Tyler Soberg (2013).

McNamara would only allow four hits and three runs in six innings, while striking out 10 in the game. McNamara was 82-85mph consistently, while pumping up to 86mph on numerous occassions.

Fellow Central Michigan commit, Taylor Lehnert, came in the game for Lake Central to pitch the 7th. Taylor was 88-90mph, hitting 91mph once in his limited action. Lehnert struck out two, giving up one hit, and retiring Senior Andrew Brown to solidify the victory: Lake Central 7 - Portage 3.

Surprising Players of the Day: Lake Central's team. They are the most well balanced and deep team I have seen this season. On top of two, top twenty-five arms at the front end of their rotation, they have tremendous speed (Wagoner, Fieldhouse, Kellams, and Fulk), to go with timely hitting (Burvan, McNamara, Fieldhouse, Wagoner), and solid defensive play up the middle. They are very well coached, and the results will come, as I put them as the team to beat in the 4A State Tournament.

Final: Lake Central 7 Portage 3