MILLBURY — Lake’s baseball team expected to be competitive and perhaps challenge for the Suburban Lakes
League championship this season.
The team has done exactly that and then some. PHOTO GALLERY
The Flyers improved to 19-3 overall and 8-0 in the league Wednesday with a 4-1 victory over Elmwood.
Lake is the only undefeated team in league play. Genoa has one loss and defending champion Elmwood is
5-2.
The Flyers still have to play Genoa twice and have a rematch with Elmwood, They also must play a
vastly-improved Otsego team.
“It’s a big win, but there’s a long way to go and the kids know that,” Lake coach Greg Wilker said.
“It’ll be a tough road.”
Kurt McKee was 3-for-3 with two runs batted in and Ryan Kohlhofer hit a solo home run for the Flyers, who
scored twice in both the first and third innings. Elmwood, after leaving the bases loaded in the first,
scored its run in the third.
Josh Tantari pitched a two-hitter for Lake, allowing only a first-inning bloop single down the
right-field line to TJ Waldock and a single to right by Jeff Vanscoder leading off the seventh.
The junior right-hander stranded eight Royals, thanks to nine strikeouts which off-set six walks. The
Elmwood run was unearned.
Tantari, who threw 135 pitches, was effective with a sharp-breaking curveball throughout the game. He
struggled with his fastball early, but finally threw it for strikes over the final three innings.
“He pitched a good game and kept us off-balance,” Elmwood coach Kyle Reiser said. “He had us guessing too
much at the plate.”
Tantari is 6-0 with a 1.96 earned-run average in 35 2/3 innings. He’s allowed 29 hits, while striking out
32 and walking 29.
“He battled and he’s a great competitor,” said Wilker, who has coached Tantari since eighth-grade
football. “He loves to compete. When he finds the curveball and gets in a rhythm, he’s tough to hit.”

The Royals had runners on first and second with one out in and the bases loaded with two out in the
first, but couldn’t score. Elmwood had at least one runner on in five innings.
“You have to battle through adversity,” Tantari said. “I stayed confident on the mound because I knew I
was throwing pretty well and I had a good team behind me to field the ball if I threw strikes.”
Lake took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Tantari walked and later scored on McKee’s single up the
middle. Corey Hotmer, who walked, also scored on the play when Elmwood’s center fielder mishandled the
ball.
Waldock scored Elmwood’s run on an infield throwing error on the back end of an attempted double play. He
had reached on an infield error.
Lake added two runs in the bottom of the third for a 4-1 lead. Kohlhofer’s homer to left made it 3-1.
Hotmer was hit by a pitch, took second on a balk, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on McKee’s
single to right.
All four of Lake’s runs came with two out.
“We had a lot of clutch hits today and we have all year long,” Wilker said. “They pick each other up.
They do a good job of handling adversity.”
Waldock kept Elmwood close, allowing six hits with two strikeouts and one walk. He easily could have been
out of the first inning scoreless if not for two errors.
“He did a good job of battling the situation he was in. He hasn’t had many starts this year,” Reiser
said. “We didn’t help him much in the field.”
Elmwood (15-5) was saving its two best pitchers, Conlan Varty and Nate Benschoter for today’s sectional
final against Genoa.
Lake also is trying to manage its pitching staff to win the league and fashion a long tournament run. The
Flyers won their sectional Tuesday and visit Genoa Friday.
“I thought we were going to be real competitive and pretty athletic,” Wilker said. “We’ve played
outstanding defense and I’m proud of that, and we run the bases well. We’ve had good pitching and timely
hitting.”
Lake has won eight straight games overall. Four of its SLL wins this season have been by two or fewer
runs, including three one-run victories.
“Our kids just battle and compete and you don’t get that every season,” Wilker said.
“We’re having fun every day and just can’t wait to get back on the field,” Tantari said. “We enjoy
playing the game.”
LAKE 4, ELMWOOD 1
ELMWOOD 001 000 0—1 2 3
LAKE 202 000 X—4 6 1
BATTING LEADERS
HITS —(E) TJ Waldock, Vanscoder; (L) McKee 3, Kohlhofer, Hotmer, Conine. HR — (L) Kohlhofer. RUNS — (E)
TJ Waldock; (L) Hotmer 2, Tantari, Kohlhofer. RBI — (L) McKee 2, Kohlhofer. SB —(E) Varty; (L) Tantari,
McKee. SAC —(E) Foster. HBP —(L) Hotmer (by TJ Waldock0. LOB — Elmwood 8, Lake 7. DP — Lake 1.
PITCHING SUMMARY
IP H R ER BB SO
Elmwood
TJ Waldock (LP) 6 6 4 3 1 2
Lake
Tantari (WP) 7 2 1 0 6 9