By AARON MUELLER
Niles Daily Star

When the Niles baseball team has David Gardner on the mound, the team has to feel pretty confident.

But the Vikings are still searching for that elusive No. 2 starter that can provide more doubleheader sweeps.

It was more of the same Tuesday night with the Vikings splitting with division-leading Lakeshore.

Gardner was sparkling in game one, showing off his live fastball and commanding his breaking pitches well. He went the distance, allowing only one earned run on two hits with seven K’s in a 7-1 Niles victory.

In game two, Chris Mangus pitched deep into the game, but some shoddy defense and lack of offensive firepower hurt Niles in a 7-2 loss.

Coach Mike Vota was pleased with the team’s effort but would have liked to see a sweep, so the team could control its own destiny in its march for the division crown.

“Obviously we would have like to win two,” Vota said. “But against a district opponent and a perennially good team, it’s not a total wasted day. Obviously, we’ll need to win out now and get some help.”

Vota was again happy with the performance of his ace in game one.

“David had good pop on his fastball,” Vota said. “He was using his breaking ball effectively when he needed to. He pitched ahead of batters. That’s the biggest thing. When he’s ahead, he dominates games.”

Niles scored early and often in game one, putting up all of its seven runs in the first four innings.

Kevin Gross got things started with a two-run bomb in the first inning, while John Carey chipped in two RBIs later in the game

Gardner got it done at the dish as well, connecting on a double and taking a pair of intentional walks.

In game two, Niles committed two errors in the first inning that led to two Lakeshore runs. And the Vikings never recovered.

The Lancers broke open the game in the fifth inning on a deep two-run shot by Adam Miller to give them a 4-0 lead. Lakeshore tacked on another run in that inning and put it out of reach in the top of the seventh with two more runs.

Gross had an RBI groundout in the sixth for the Vikings, and a balk with a man on third in the seventh innning produced Niles’ only other run. Gardner tripled in game two as well.

Vota said the team did not get enough timely hitting from the bottom of the order.

“We need to get more production out of sixth through nine,” Vota said. “The top of our lineup is carrying us right now. If we can get six through nine contributing, we’ll be okay.”

Taylor Campbell was a bright spot in the bottom of the order, pounding out a couple of doubles in game two.

Vota believes the team could do some damage late in the season and in the postseason if the players shore up on defense and get some quality starts from the pitchers.

“We need to play 14 innings of baseball with limited errors,” he said. We got ourselves into trouble in that second game early with a couple errors early. If we can pitch, not make errors and then get production from our six through nine, I think we got a pretty good shot.”

First game
Lakeshore 001 000 0 – 1 2 3
Niles 202 300 x – 7 8 1
WP – David Gardner
LP – Jeff Narregan
2B: Garner (N)
HR: Matthew McLaughlin (N),  Kevin Gross (N)

Second game
Lakeshore 200 030 2 – 7 7 2
Niles 000 001 1 – 2 5 4
WP – Zane Metz to Adam Miller
LP – Chris Mangus to John Carey
2B: Taylor Campbell (N), Sam Fowler (L), John Nate (L)
3B: Gardner (N)
HR: Adam Miller