All The Small Things

Guys like junior fireballer Nick Deeg, his catcher and two-sport star Roman Kuster, super steady Nick Vogelmeyer, and rising sophomore star Brad Schaenzer have been hogging most of the headlines lately for the Lake Orion baseball team and rightfully so.

However, there are a couple of players that quietly ply their trade in the background, doing all the little things that make that kind of success the Dragons – currently 8-3 and ranked No. 2 in Oakland County –, are having on the diamond possible and deserve some recognition too.

Those players names are Jake Gardner and Dalton Oveson, a pair of senior leaders in the Lake Orion dugout and out on the field, that both define the term X-FACTOR

Gardner is signed to continue his cutting up of the diamond in college at Hillsdale.

He is a three-year varsity letter winner on the diamond, giving TEAM SCHRAM a versatile and consistent blend of hitting, pitching and fielding. Proving he can also make things happen on the gridiron, Gardner earned two letters for the Lake Orion football team, playing lockdown defense in the Dragons secondary. As a junior, he helped take them to a Division 1 state title.

Last season on the baseball field, Gardner has a 2.73 ERA on the mound and registered a .397 batting average. In the team's opener a few weeks back, he tossed a beauty, only allowing 3 hits and striking out 10 in an 11-0 stomping of Almont.

Let's not forget what Gardner can do in the classroom either. He's nearly a 4.0 student, a member of the National Honor Society and scored a remarkable 31 on his ACT.

Oveson has been the prototypical stalwart for the Dragons Diamond Crew the past three seasons, a pure WORKHORSE in every sense of the word. Just like Gardner, Oveson can destroy opponents from both the plate and the mound. Although because of some shoulder injuries, he's hasn't taken the rubber yet this spring, when he does get back he'll combine with Deeg, Vogelmeyer and Garnder to form quite the FEARSOME FOURSOME of a pitching rotation.

All Burney can say is WATCH OUT.

Next year, Oveson will be heading to Olney Central in Illinois, a powerhouse JUCO that will almost certainly propel him to a spot on a D1 roster by 2015 at the latest.