No one expected the Lake Blue Streaks baseball team to run through the season with a flawless record.

Don’t get the perception that the Blue Streaks are a sub par team because of their 10-8 record and 5-3 ledger in the Federal League. Manager Bud Householder is in fact impressed largely at the fact that his team has accomplished his goal of improving as the season goes on.

Despite a young team, he hasn’t had to worry about their comeuppance at all.

“We have young guys on our team. Even though we didn’t get off to a good start to the season, we talked about getting better every day and they have been able to do that,” he said via phone.

The Canton Division I district tournament is on the horizon. The vaunted Jackson Polar Bears have a cold freeze on the top seed, while Wooster has the second seed.

Lake is seeded fourth and will draw Massillon. The Tigers baseball team was last at its peak eight years ago, winning the district title under former manager and current athletic director Tim Ridgley.

No team is out of it

Every team is capable of winning the district according to Householder.

“Seeding has its parity,” Householder said. “Every team deserved the seeds they got.

The worst record was 12-7. Seeding does matter and it comes down to pitching,” he said in reference to who had the best chance to winning the tournament.
In baseball, any batter one through nine has to be ready to produce and if not, there has to be another one who can pick them up.

That is the challenge Householder issues to his team over the course of a game. It’s not a game of one person but nine players against the other nine.

Many contributors
“So far, we are not relying on any one batter to get the job done. We are having others step up to pick up another batter in case one cannot get it done,” he said.

“Defensively, we have come a long way. Early on, we were not on the same page regarding where we needed to be. We have been playing good ball lately. Success in the long run however will come down to pitching.”

Any team is capable of winning the district championship. Canton McKinley captured a district championship in 1998 with less than 15 wins.

Records mean nothing
Householder said to throw out all the records in this competitive tournament field. With teams like Jackson, North Canton, and Perry along with others packing potential power in their bats, any big inning can turn a game and spark a run toward a title.

“That is what is great about baseball,” he said. “It’s a great game and there have been teams who have had the right balance and pulled off an upset.”

Before the tournament, there are still regular season games remaining. There is a fine line between focusing on the tournament and the regular season. Just because the

Blue Streaks have a game in the tournament, don’t expect them to go half-go in a regular season game and expect to turn it on in a tournament game.

With Householder’s expectations coupled with focus, that will not be an issue of concern according to the fifth-year skipper. He is aware even though there is still a lot of baseball left, other teams will give their best against his reigning district champions.

That is what motivates him to keep the title in Hartville.

“My expectations for this year have not changed. My goal is to go out and to win every game. That won’t change even if I am still here 15 years from now,” he said. “We take it one game at a time. If you start to look ahead, then you lose focus.”

Back to back
Householder expects to see the Lake Blue Streaks achieve their goal of consecutive district titles. The team knows what to expect so he hasn’t had to really remind them of last year’s success and how teams are attacking his ball club.

He knows the championship goes through Lake but his team must play like it.

“To this point, we’ve played pretty good baseball. But we haven’t mentioned last year’s success and I haven’t worn my district championship shirt. We still have business to do before we start thinking about defending our title,” Householder said.