LO baseball christens new field with win

Lakers beat Putnam to move into first place in TRL standings

By Bill Stewart

The Lake Oswego Review, May 3, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Vern Uyetake / The Lake Oswego Review

Lake Oswego’s Alex Freeman slides safely into third base during the first inning of last Friday’s TRL game against Putnham. It was Lake Oswego’s first game on the school’s new artificial turf field, which was partially donated by the manufacturer, Field Turf Inc. Lake Oswego won the game 6-3, thanks in part to a stellar pitching performance by Bennett Frazier and a solo home run by Cooper Mandelblatt.

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It was well worth the wait.

The Lake Oswego baseball team finally got to play its first home game of the season last Friday and the day could not have turned out any better.

As most local sports fans know by now, the Lakers had been forced to play the first two-thirds of their season on the road while they waited for construction crews to complete the installation of their new artificial surface, which is a product of Field Turf Inc. That field, which was dedicated to the late Les Darby, a longtime local sports supporter, gives the Lakers possibly the best home field in the state.

So, it was fitting that on such a big day for Lake Oswego High School, the Lakers beat Putnam 6-3 to move into sole possession of first place in the Three Rivers League.

“It was a great day,” Lake Oswego coach Jake Anders said after the game. “It was an outstanding (pre-game) ceremony. And we couldn’t be prouder to have the new field dedicated to Les Darby … And I think everyone was excited to come to a home game.”

After 18 straight games on the road, the Lakers finally got to play their first home of the game of the year. And local fans got a chance to see a team that has been playing well lately.

For the first five innings, it seemed nothing could go wrong for the host team. That included a stellar pitching performance by Bennett Frazier – possibly his best effort of the year.

“Bennett Frazier just threw an outstanding game,” Anders said.

And his teammates provided the kind of timely hitting that had been sorely lacking in a one-run loss to Milwaukie just the week before.

After a three-up, three-down top for the first for Frazier, leadoff hitter Matt Stutes got things going for the Lakers in the bottom of the first with a line-drive single. That, of course, gave him the first hit ever on the new field.

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