EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the latest in a series looking back at the top 10 baseball teams, coaches, games and players from last decade

The only sight more spectacular than a cloudless, early June evening at Bowman Field seven years ago might have been Justin Lambert’s masterful pitching performance.

Despite Hughesville playing the second game of a late-afternoon state tournament doubleheader, Lambert made sure the city never had to turn on the lights. He mowed through a dangerous lineup on just 77 pitches, throwing a six-hit shutout as Hughesville won its state tournament debut against Kutztown, 2-0. That gem ran Lambert’s postseason record to 3-0 that year and concluded a dazzling run of 19 1/3 innings pitched without allowing an earned run as Hughesville captured its first District 4 Class AA championship and reached the state quarterfinals.

“He was on fire,” Hughesville catcher Brett Reitz said afterward. “Just out in the bullpen I could tell he was feeling it.”

“Justin throws just 77 pitches … that’s unreal,” former Hughesville coach Casey Waller said afterward. “It was a pitchers’ duel and I’m very proud of Lambert. We knew they were going to be a tough team and Justin threw well and did a great job for us.”

Lambert always did from 2011-14. But the ironic part about his 2013 brilliance is that it almost never happened. The playoff brilliance, the strong all-around play throughout the season, the leadership … it was so close to being just a mirage.

The previous fall while playing quarterback, Lambert suffered a fractured elbow which resulted from a tear in his right elbow. Another half inch in any direction and Lambert would have undergone Tommy John Surgery and been lost for his junior season. Instead, he worked his way back in time for the season, was put on gradually climbing pitch counts and helped Hughesville enjoy its greatest season.

“Almost having to have Tommy John scared me a lot. Thank God I didn’t need it,” Lambert said that year. “The doctors did a good job and I went to rehab and worked my way back.”

That is an understatement. Lambert earned the Sun-Gazette’s Pitcher of the Year Award after going 7-3 with a 1.51 ERA and being a part of five shutouts. It was one of four outstanding seasons Lambert produced. A year later he earned all-state honors and finished his stellar scholastic career 20-6 with eight saves, 169 strikeouts and four ERAs lower than 2.00. He also played outstanding defense in the middle infield and was one of the team’s most reliable hitters over the last two seasons. It is no coincidence that Hughesville experienced its best four-year run when Lambert was there. He did a little bit of everything, helping Hughesville win 64 games, its first district title and a league championship.

He’s a competitor. He doesn’t give up,” Reitz said. “Down by eight or up by one he’s going to give you all he’s got.”

Lambert started doing so in 2011, emerging as one of the area’s most promising freshmen and collecting four saves as Hughesville won 15 games. A year later he was both an excellent starter and the area’s premier closer, earning the first of three first team Sun-Gazette honors. Lambert went 6-1 with four saves and struck out 45 batters in 30 1/3 innings. Waller used Lambert more as a reliever early in the season before he became the staff ace late and beat eventual district champion Loyalsock late in the season as well as Troy in districts.

Everything was set up for a fabulous junior season, but then Lambert suffered his elbow injury. He could not pitch at the year’s start before moving to a 50-pitch count limit. Without Lambert able to throw much, Hughesville struggled and started 5-6. Soon after, however, the pitch limit increased to 75 and then 90. And as it did the best team in program history took off.

Hughesville won 12 of its next 13 games and Lambert was virtually untouchable when pitching, earning the victories in six of those games. Seven times that year, Lambert did not allow an earned run and by districts Lambert was at his peak.

“It was very frustrating at the beginning of the season, especially when you want to be out there and get those first wins,” Lambert, who also was one of the team’s leading hitters, said. “We struggled at the beginning of the season and I’m glad I’m able to pitch now when it really counts.”

Lambert used all that previous frustration in a constructive manner and took it out on three straight playoff opponents, starting in the opening round against Athens. The Spartans scored just a first-inning run, but that was all the hard-throwing right-hander needed. Lambert left runners on second and third with one out in the sixth inning, struck out 12 and threw a two-hit shutout as Hughesville won, 1-0.

“He is a fantastic pitcher and he was on today,” Reitz said afterward. “When he’s on, he’s almost unhittable.”

He remained that way in his next two starts. Lambert threw 5 1/3 scoreless innings against a Southern Columbia team as Hughesville won, 6-1 and clinched both its first state tournament berth as well as a spot in its first district final. A night later, Lambert smashed a lead-off double and scored the go-ahead run in the ninth inning against eventual state champion Loyalsock as Hughesville made history and won its first district title, 7-5.

The bigger the ramifications, the better Lambert pitched so he felt in his comfort zone against Kutztown, throwing his dazzling shutout. He also dropped a perfect squeeze bunt that produced the game’s first run as Hughesville continued its postseason run which concluded with a record 18 wins.

“You control the whole outcome when you’re on the mound so you need complete focus every pitch, all seven innings,” Lambert said. “The defense played great behind me and it’s definitely a confidence boost knowing you have a complete team around you.”

Hughesville was complete and hungry in 2014 and ended Loyalsock’s five-year run as HAC-II champions, sweeping the regular-season series from the Lancers while finishing 17-4. Lambert again was one of the district’s best all-around players. He remained a dominant pitcher, going 7-2 with a 1.99 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 45 2/3 innings while also playing super defense at second base. Lambert also had his best offensive season, hitting a team-high .431 with six doubles and earning first team HAC-II all-star honors at both positions.

Lambert was at his best in those two victories against Loyalsock, surrendering just two runs in 11 innings. When Hughesville edged Loyalsock 2-1 in 10 innings at Bodine Park, Lambert was like the maestro conducting an orchestra, throwing four hitless innings against a team which would win its next 15 games and another state championship. Lambert beat Loyalsock three times in three years, highlighting both his talent and his will.

“People were telling me I can’t pitch good against them or here, but it came down to it today and I knew I could do it,” Lambert said. “I had good stuff, but not always my best and I’m glad I had my teammates behind me.”

And Lambert always stood tall among those Spartans.