After taking a couple of bruisings in their first two games of the series against Cedarcrest, the Lakewood baseball team showed they can compete with one of the best teams in the state.

Against league leader and state No. 8 Cedarcrest, the Lakewood boys bounced back to win their third game 7-2 at Cedarcrest’s Tolt Middle School April 18.

Hit by a pitch in the top of the first inning, senior Jesse Etchey took advantage of more erratic pitching, advancing to second and third base on pass balls and fellow senior Jordan Stauffer gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead on a sacrifice fly to right field.

On the mound, Stauffer snuffed the Cedarcrest offense in the second inning, leaving two Red Wolves runners stranded on base as the Cougars held off a suicide squeeze. Stauffer earned the second and third outs with a strikeout and an infield fly. In the sixth inning, the Lakewood defense once again answered the call to hold off their league rivals as shortstop Trent Melhart and catcher Etchey combined to stop a Red Wolves runner at the plate.

Lakewood scored their next six runs in the top of the seventh. Freddy Perez, who led off the inning with a walk earned the team’s second run the same way, as Melhart was hit by a pitch by Cedarcrest ace Travis Cook with the bases loaded. In the next at bat, Etchey hit a grand-slam home run for a 6-0 lead. The seventh run came from a Stauffer single base-running that took advantage of the defense’s mistakes.

Stauffer pitched a complete game for Lakewood, allowing two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but striking out four.