Yard Goats win tournament championship

An Albany 13 and under travel baseball team won their State Tournament in Euless May 18-19.

The team, made up of local youth with the exception of two players from area towns, won the event after also competing this spring in tournaments at Brownwood and Wichita Falls.

The team goes by the name of the Yard Goats and is coached by Tony Wheeler and Justin Read.

The team was 5-1 at the state event, losing only in their first pool game on Saturday.

The Yard Goats then won five games in a row, including an 11-3 win over Pro Source in the championship game.

The local players managed to finish at the top of the tournament even though they were down in numbers.

“Normally we have around 12 players, but we only had nine that weekend,” said coach Justin Read.

Albany members of the team at the State Tournament were Cole Read, Caden Price, Lute Wheeler, Cason Fairchild, Zane Waggoner, Tyler Chapman, and Bryson Herring. 

Camden Escalon from Breckenridge and Tyler Wilburn from Anson were also on the State Tournament team.

Lanxton Viertel, Adam Hill, and Houston Heatly were unable to attend the state games.