A late start and an early finish could not thwart the Lakeland High School baseball team on Monday. The Cavaliers defeated host Phoebus High School 10-4 in five innings of play.

“We hit the ball extremely well,” said Lakeland coach David Devers. “We ran the bases well.”

The Cavs accumulated 10 hits before the game was called on account of darkness. The Phantoms’ home field did not have the lighting necessary to allow the game to continue.

Both teams also had a less-than-usual amount of daylight to work with. The contest, scheduled to being at 5:30 p.m., did not start on time because the umpires were a bit late showing up.

Despite all of the irregularities, the Cavaliers produced a performance that gave Devers few reasons to feel frustrated. They had three errors on defense, but they did not prove to be that costly.

“All in all, I feel pretty good about it,” Devers said of his team’s play and the game.

He gave praise to senior pitcher Blake Harris (2-4). In five innings, Harris threw three strikeouts, and he allowed four walks but only two hits and one earned run.

Lakeland freshman Dixon Mills went 2-for-4 with four runs batted in, sophomore Chase Lewis went 2-for-3 with two RBIs and senior Joey Bradshaw went 2-for-3.

Phoebus committed five errors.

The Cavaliers (2-11, 2-2) visited Denbigh High School on Tuesday, and they visit Nansemond River High School on Friday.