BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Erick Lasseter and Foster Smith drove in two runs each, with Smith also earning the win on the mound in the Union County High School baseball team’s 8-4 win over Class 6A Oakleaf on Feb. 29 in Orange Park.
The Tigers (2-3) scored all of their runs in the first four innings. Lasseter got it started with a two-run homer in the first, while Preston Bonsall drove in a run on a ground ball in the second. Smith hit a two-run single as part of a three-run fourth.
Union also scored runs on a hit batter with the bases loaded, a passed ball and a wild pitch.
Smith pitched a shutout through the first four innings. He threw five overall, giving up four runs on four hits and two walks. He had four strikeouts.
Baler Waters and Jake Walker each pitched one inning. Waters gave up no hits, while Walker gave up one and struck out two of the four batters he faced.
Defensive, the Tigers turned a 5-4-3 double play in the sixth.
The Class 1A Tigers entered the game off an 8-2 loss at 4A Suwannee on Feb. 27.
Union faced a big early deficit when the Bulldogs scored five runs in the second. Only one of those runs came off a hit, with the rest being scored on two bases-loaded walks, a passed ball and a steal of home.
Smith went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI, while Bonsall was 2 for 4 with a double.
The Tigers travel to play Baldwin on Tuesday, March 5, at 7 p.m. and will travel to play University Christian on Thursday, March 7, at 7 p.m. Union returns home to play Nease on Monday, March 11, at 6 p.m. and Suwannee on Tuesday, March 12, at 7 p.m.
