BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Lake Butler Middle School’s baseball team has won two in a row after two straight games ended in ties, with the latest victory coming by a score of 9-2 over host Trenton on March 25.
The Tigers (7-0-2) scored four runs in the second inning, two of which came on a single by Dalen Paige. Kiptyn Shuler had an RBI single, while another run scored on a passed ball.
Lake Butler pushed another five runs across in the fourth, with all coming on passed balls and errors. The inning featured only two hits, both of which were doubles hit by Shuler and Jackson Andersen-Davis.
Shuler finished 2 for 3.
The Tigers entered the game off a 7-4 win over visiting Baker County on March 14.
A three-run fifth inning proved to be the difference. Lake Butler loaded the bases with two outs. Emery Muse reached on an error, followed by Fisher Thomassen getting hit by a pitch. Shuler then walked, setting the stage for Westyn Miller’s two-run single. After Weston Thompson was hit by a pitch, Shuler scored on a passed ball.
Miller, who went 3 for 4, drove in four runs in all.
Thomassen was one of four pitchers used by Lake Butler. He threw 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up two hits and striking out three.
The Tigers host Williston on Tuesday, March 26, at 6 p.m. and will travel to play Williston again on Thursday, March 28, at 6 p.m.
Lake Butler hosts Fort White on Monday, April 1, at 6 p.m. before traveling to play Keystone Heights on Tuesday, April 2, at 6 p.m.
