Lake Orion Baseball Coach Andy Schramek said his junior ace Josh Deeg has decent power to the gaps, but he hadn’t seen anything like this.
Deeg hit home runs from both sides of the plate, conjuring up Mickey Mantle comparisons from his coach, as the Dragons topped Oxford 2-0 and Romeo 13-0 to capture a district title on Saturday at Oxford.
‘He’s never hit a home run, period,? Schramek said. ‘If you were to tell me that somebody was going to hit two home runs today, I wouldn’t have picked Deeg. He’s a big-time player.?
In addition to his skills with the bat, Deeg was part of the two-headed pitching tandem that struck out 20 in 14 innings of shutout ball.
‘If we play like we like we did today, throwing strikes and playing good defense, nobody can beat us,? Deeg said.
Deeg struck out 11 in #4 Lake Orion’s 2-0 win over #7 Oxford in the semifinals. A two-out hit in the first inning by Brandon Dugan was the only one allowed by Deeg, who faced three over the minimum.
The Wildcats? Kyle Teague was equally impressive, striking out 10 and limiting the Dragons to six hits. He faced just four over the minimum in a game that lasted 68 minutes.
‘They’ve got a lot of bats over there,? Oxford Coach Kurt Nuss said of Lake Orion. ‘For Teague to go out there and four-hit them, that’s an amazing performance.?
The Dragons got an RBI double in the fourth from Nick Dunstan and an insurance run courtesy of Deeg’s solo shot (from the left side) in the sixth.
But it was Deeg’s effort on the mound that had Nuss talking after the game.
‘He kept us off balance, he located his pitches well,? he said. ‘You’re not going to win a game with three base runners.?
Still, the Wildcats got runners on base in the sixth and seventh inning thanks to a walk and a hit batsman, but no one ever flirted with second base, let alone scored.
‘We did what we did all year,? Nuss said. ‘We came out and competed, and today we fell a little short.?
Oxford finished at 27-6, while the Dragons improved to 26-4 by routing Romeo in the nightcap.
Connor Mielock struck out nine, while limiting Romeo to just 5 hits.
‘Josh and Connor are excellent baseball players, they’re excellent pitchers and they compete,? Schramek said. ‘They both just have a way to bear down.?
The Dragons were aided by three Romeo errors in the third inning that allowed them to jump out to a 5-0 lead.
Lake Orion added two runs in the fifth, one in the sixth and five in the seventh, including a three-run shot by Deeg from the right side.
Brandon Riggsbee added three hits and three RBI for LO.
‘The one thing I love about this team is that we have the pitching and the defense to win a game two to nothing, and we have the ability to score a lot of runs when we need to, too,? Schramek said.