In front of what appeared to be a relatively sparse crowd of 3,995 on a beautiful April day, the anxious Lugnuts players were turned around on fly balls, picked off at first base, booted ground balls and let throws fly to the backstop.

But after nine innings and two hours and 52 minutes of baseball, the team with an average age of 21.48 years, and six starters who are 19 or younger, put together the right combination of timely hitting and pitching to steal the game from the South Bend Silver Hawks, 12-6.

“I’m sure they were questioning themselves, even though we told them they belonged here and can play here,” said 28-year-old Lugnuts manager Clayton McCullough. “Until you actually go out there and have some success, you do have some self-doubt.”

Lugnuts starting pitcher Luis Perez lasted only three and one-third innings, giving up five runs and seven hits to 17 batters. But his teammates put together a four-run first inning that featured a home run from designated hitter Manny Rodriguez, who drove home second baseman John Tolisano and catcher Jonathan Jaspe.

The Lugnuts (4-1) regained a 6-5 lead in the bottom of the fourth when Tolisano and Rodriguez scored on a single to right field off the bat of first baseman Michael McDade and a throwing error from Silver Hawks (0-5) right fielder Derrick Walker.

“Adversity and the way a team responds to it is the difference between a championship team and a regular team,” 19-year-old shortstop Justin Jackson said. “We did a good job bouncing back.”

As the temperature cooled down, so did the bats in the fifth inning — the first in which neither team plated a run.

Lugnuts pitcher Randy Boone struck out the side in the top of the seventh, and the scoreless trend continued until Jaspe grounded a ball past first base, scoring two and increasing the Lansing advantage to three runs. Tolisano brought home the third run of the inning on an infield single before Silver Hawks manager Mark Haley made a pitching change.

The nail in the coffin came when Jaspe tripled down the right-field line with two outs and two men on after the Silver Hawks misplayed three foul pop-ups in his at-bat, giving him extra chances to magnify the error.

Boone, who earned the win, threw four and two-thirds innings and surrendered only one run before Cody Crowell came in and struck out the side in front of the standing crowd to end the game.

“Boone was outstanding,” McCullough said. “Perez struggled a bit with his command and Boone came right in. He’s a strike thrower and he became stronger as the outing went on. His stuff got sharper and his command was stronger. What a big job by him to keep us in the game.”

With Ahrens and Jackson on the left side of the infield and leading the way as two of the youngest and most talented players on the team, their skipper said their capabilities are astounding while they remain still unfulfilled.

“It’s scary — sometimes we sit here and think, ‘These guys are 19 years old,’” McCullough said. “And I think, ‘When I was 19, I had trouble taking care of myself, much less being out here playing baseball.’ These guys are mature; they have a lot of work to do though.”