North Farmington Pounded in 12-3 Loss to West Bloomfield

WEST BLOOMFIELD – Sometimes it’s not about getting hits, but when you get them.

lost 12-3 to Oakland Activities Association rival West Bloomfield on the road Friday, even though the team out-hit the Lakers nine to seven.

“Timely hitting was our downfall,” Raiders coach Michael O’Connell said. “The bottom line of the game, we have more hits than they do, and they have more runs than we do.”

West Bloomfield pitcher Tyler Grafmiller allowed seven hits in six innings and hit two batters. The Raiders had plenty of base runners in the game; unfortunately, they just didn’t go anywhere. 

“He didn’t have his best stuff and got us through six innings,” West Bloomfield coach Eric Pierce said. “He’s not a pitcher that’s going to overpower you per se, but he counts on a lot of control and has command over four pitches.”

Grafmiller didn’t make a lot of batters miss, but he kept the ball down in the strike zone and forced a lot of ground balls. His infield helped him out with a couple of excellent plays.

Dillion Dexter had back-to-back putouts on hard hit balls at third base in the fifth inning that could have both been infield singles. With runners on first and third in the sixth inning, first baseman Timo Deyoung turned a double play that ended a potential comeback.

Deyoung fielded a sharply hit ground ball right behind the bag at first. He touched the base and threw to shortstop Ryan Bilkovic, who was covering second. A force-out was no longer an option, but Bilkovic was able to put the tag on the runner to get the out and end the inning.

“That play was absolutely huge,” Pierce said. “Definitely a momentum killer for them.”

Freshman Brandon Griffith started on the mound for the Raiders and put his team behind early.

In the first start of his career, he gave up six runs by the second inning on only two hits. Freshman Brooks Reno was starting behind the plate for senior Vince Evangelista, and the combination of a freshman pitcher and catcher allowed West Bloomfield free rein on the base paths.

Griffith threw a wild pitch, Reno allowed two balls to get past him and the Lakers stole four bases.

Jeff Segal pitched the rest of the game for the Raiders. He gave up only one hit and one run in three innings, until West Bloomfield put the game out of reach with back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the sixth. Dexter crushed a three-run homer to centerfield with two runners on. And then Deyoung hit a solo shot to left.

“Being up 7-3, it’s nice to get the insurance in the last inning, it lets you breathe a little easier,” Pierce said. “And we got them there with two outs.”

North Farmington's busy schedule won't allow the Raiders much time to think about the loss. With all the rainouts in April, their schedule is packed in May. They are playing five games a week for the next four weeks.