An early game tie was blown away in later innings as the Spartans found themselves on the short side of an 11-1 baseball bashing by the Lakeside Lions last Friday.

Lakeside, the top team in the Metro standings with a 12-2 conference record, notched one run in the top of the first inning, and the Bainbridge team didn’t get on the board until the bottom of the second. That done, the Lions quickly put up two more runs in the top of the third, pulling ahead again.

The Spartans were able to hold the Lions to only their two-run lead for the next two innings, but were unable to close the gap either. In the top of the sixth, the Lions bagged four runs, cementing their dominance, and then added another four in the seventh for good measure.

Lakeside managed six hits in all, Bainbridge just two.

Coming on the heels of an epic come-from-behind victory just days before, the loss, BHS Head Coach Simon Pollack said, was more a fluke than a failing.

“I think today was really not indicative of what we can do,” he said. “Today was not us. Today was a real tough day for sure.”

The loss at home left the Spartans with an overall season record of 9-5, and in the seventh spot in the Metro standings.

Errors in the field were minimal Friday, Pollack said, though the team’s performance elsewhere was a bit lacking.

“Our base running still leaves something to be desired,” he said. “We’ve had some pitching issues. Most of our runs in the beginning of the game were unearned.

“Sometimes in this league you get into a game of, ‘Who’s going to lose it?’” he added. “And they offered it up and we did a good job taking it on Wednesday, for sure, because we wanted it.

“Today, obviously, we didn’t really manufacture, took some bad swings, just didn’t hit the ball very well either and that’s a tough thing,” he said.

With the end of the season inching ever close (only about five games are ahead of the Spartans in the regular season schedule) Pollack said the time at which the team should peak was nigh.

“It’s about at this time in the season that we should be done doing that,” he said, gesturing out onto the field, indicating Friday’s performance. “Even if we’re not throwing hard, we should be able to hit spots.

“I definitely wish they were tighter defensively,” he added. “I wish our pitchers were hitting better spots.”

Overall the team -—comprised primarily of juniors and sophomores — had matured greatly this year already, Pollack said.

“I’ve got a lot of young guys,” he said. “They’ve got a lot to learn about how to play their positions.

“Obviously, we knew this would be a little rebuilding year,” he added. “I wish they were playing cleaner baseball — and I think they have the ability to. But we certainly knew this was going to be getting guys experience and building for our future.”