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Posted on Thu, Apr 29, 2010 : 11:30 p.m.

Dexter baseball team wins ugly, but finishes off SEC sweep of Lincoln

By Jeff Arnold

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Lincoln catcher Michael Viggiano attempts to tag Dexter's Matt Stirling at home plate in the second game of a doubleheader against Dexter at Lincoln on Thursday. (Photo: Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com)

At this point in the season, Don Little isn't overly concerned with style points. His Dexter High School baseball team has produced its share of ugly wins over its first five Southeastern Conference tests - four of which have resulted in victory. The latest came Thursday night when the Dreadnaughts watched a seven-run lead disappear against Lincoln before they used a bases-loaded walk in the sixth inning to finish off a 13-12 victory and a sweep over the Railsplitters. Dexter used a late rally to post a 4-3 win in the opener. Regardless of how his team is getting the job done, Little isn't complaining with the results.

"Right now, a win's a win," Little said. "It doesn't matter it was 13-12. We got the two wins in the league and that's what we were looking for."

More Coverage on MLive.com: Game 1 Boxscore | Game 2 Boxscore

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Dexter centerfielder Justin Hart slugged a pair of home runs, including a grand slam in the nightcap of the Dreadnaughts sweep of Lincoln Thursday night (Photo: Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com

Centerfielder Justin Hart sparked Dexter (7-9, 4-1 SEC) in the nightcap, slugging a pair of home runs, including a third-inning grand slam that helped the Dreadnaughts regain the lead after Lincoln used a four-run second-inning to build a 5-4 lead. Dexter appeared to blow the game open in the fifth, again behind Hart, who led off the inning with a double before Mike Mioduszewski doubled in a pair of runs, extending the Dreadnaughts' lead to 12-5. Lincoln again roared back, this time scoring seven runs in the fifth inning using RBI singles from Cole Holley and Eric Kelch along with a pair of misplayed shots to left field to knot the game at 12. And after one bad inning continued a season-long trend of untimely errors in the opener, Lincoln's signs of life gave the Railsplitters confidence they are capable of turning things around. "I think our kids proved themselves and showed they can fight back when you want to," Lincoln coach Marty Lozano said. "That shows a lot of character and that's something we've tried get our guys to understand that even though you're down one or two runs, you still need to fight. "Here they were down seven and they came back." Dexter wasted little time responding, though, taking advantage of a Lincoln error, two walks and a hit batter to load the bases. Mioduszewski drove in the game-winning run by drawing a walk. The crazy nightcap victory came after Dexter scored four runs in the sixth inning of the opener, again making the most of a combination of walks and errors and a Henry Haley RBI single to wipe out Lincoln's 2-0 lead.

The Railsplitters (4-8, 0-7 SEC) jumped out to a lead on Andrew Dillon's first-inning 2-run home run. But Dexter's big inning proved to be the jump-start the Dreadnaughts needed en route to the doubleheader sweep. "That definitely woke us up," Hart said. "We were able to get a win in our division, take both (games) - we'll take it. Even though they were ugly. But they still help and that will boost our confidence later in the season." Jeff Arnold covers sports for AnArbor.com and can be reached at (734) 623-2554 or by email at jeffarnold@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @jeffreyparnold.