Area Champions
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lions moved on in the Class 2A baseball playoffs last week with a sweep of their area series against Eldorado.
The Lions won the series opener 3-2 on Thursday, May 12, at Abilene Christian’s Crutcher Scott Field, then completed the sweep with a 12-1 victory on Saturday, May 14, at San Angelo’s Nathan Donsky Field.
The Lions (17-4) will play Coleman in the regional quarterfinals at Walt Driggers Field on the McMurry University campus in Abilene. Game 1 is set for 7:00 p.m. Friday, May 20, with Game 2 at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, May 21. Game 3, if necessary, will start 30 minutes following the conclusion of Game 2.
“Coleman’s a scrappy team, well coached,” Lions coach David Fairchild said. “They’re a young team, very similar to us. It should be a good series.”
In the area series opener, Cole Chapman pitched a complete game with 11 strikeouts and drove in the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Then he competed in the state track meet the following day.
“Cole pitched a great game,” Fairchild said. “He was in control of all his pitches.”
Albany out-hit Eldorado 6-3 as Cooper Fairchild went 2 for 2. Zane Waggoner, Caden Price, and Luke Ivy each had a hit with Waggoner and Ivy joining Chapman with RBIs. All three run-scoring hits came with two outs.
Another difference that favored Albany was that the Lions were successful on all seven of their stolen base attempts, while Bryson Herring threw out a runner on the Eagles’ only steal attempt.
“We did a good job running the bases,” the coach said. “That set us up for the win.”
Chapman and Eldorado’s Kaden Gonzalez hooked up in a classic pitchers’ duel until the pitch count came into play in the sixth. Chapman was charged with two unearned runs on three hits, managing to finish the game at 100 pitches, 65 of which were strikes.
Gonzalez gave up two runs on five hits over 5.2 innings before reaching the pitch limit. He matched Chapman with 11 strikeouts and one walk.
Chapman said keeping his pitch count down and staying fresh on a hot day was the big key.
“I had to get back to the dugout and try to stay as hydrated as I could,” he said. “I was just focusing on throwing as many strikes as I could knowing they were hitting the ball and my defense was backing me up. We came through in the end.”
David Fairchild said pitching efficiently was the difference in the game as Chapman was able to go the distance.
“Cole didn’t waste any pitches,” the coach said. “This was a good win against a very solid pitcher from Eldorado. I liked how we competed.”
Eldorado took advantage of a balk and an error to score the game’s first run in the second. Albany pulled even in the third on Waggoner’s RBI single.
The pitchers dominated through the fifth with Gonzalez retiring seven of 10 batters, while Chapman set down nine of 10.
In the bottom of the sixth, Price singled and stole two bases, then scored the go-ahead run on Ivy’s two-out single to center.
Ivy’s hit came on Gonzalez’s final pitch of the day.
In the seventh, the only walk Chapman allowed led to the tying run, which was aided by two errors.
In the bottom of the inning, Albany again turned to its running game to score the winning run. Cooper Fairchild worked a one-out walk off Mike Adame, who relieved Gonzalez in the sixth, then he stole second and third on consecutive pitches before Chapman drove a 3-1 pitch to right.
“I was just thinking to put the ball in play,” Chapman said, “look for the fastball down the middle and hit through it.”
Game 2 started out as another battle, tied 1-1 after three innings, before Albany erupted for six runs in the fourth. The Lions invoked the run rule with five runs in the sixth.
Cole Read pitched five solid innings, striking out seven while holding Eldorado to an unearned run on five hits.
Cooper Fairchild struck out three of the four batters he faced in the sixth.
“We’ve shown that we never give up in tight ballgames,” David Fairchild said. “Once again, Cole Read came out and threw well. When we have good pitching, we have a great chance to win.”
Cason Fairchild went 2 for 3 with two doubles, and Cooper Fairchild was 2 for 4 with a double. Read drove in two runs, while Coy Lefevre, Waggoner, Cole Chapman, Ivy, and Tyler Chapman each had a hit and an RBI.
Read singled in a run in the second, and Albany’s bats came alive in the fourth. Cason Fairchild led off with a double and scored the go-ahead run on a double steal. With two outs, Lefevre singled, then Cooper Fairchild and Waggoner followed with doubles, and Cole Chapman capped the outburst with a triple.
In the sixth, three consecutive errors let in two runs before Read had a sacrifice fly. Ivy’s RBI single and another double steal capped the scoring.
AREA SERIES
GAME 1
ALBANY 3, ELDORADO 2
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E
ELDORADO 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 2/3/1
ALBANY 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 3/0/0
atbat runs hits RBI
Lefevre 2b 4 0 0 0
CoFairchild cf 2 1 2 0
Waggoner 1b 3 0 1 1
CChapman p 4 0 1 1
CaFairchild 3b 3 0 0 0
Price rf 3 1 1 0
Read ss 3 0 0 0
Ivy lf 2 0 1 1
Herring c 3 1 0 0
Totals 27 3 6 3
HBP – CoFairchild, Waggoner. SB – CoFairchild 3, Waggoner, CaFairchild, Price 2.
IP H R ER BB SO
CChapman 7 3 2 0 1 11
PB – Herring. Balk – CChapman.
GAME 2
ALBANY 12, ELDORADO 1
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E
ALBANY 0 1 0 6 0 5 x 12/10/3
ELDORADO 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1/5/9
atbat runs hits RBI
Lefevre 2b 3 1 1 1
CoFairchild p 4 2 2 0
Waggoner 1b 3 2 1 1
CChapman ss 4 1 1 1
CaFairchild cf 3 3 2 1
Price rf 3 2 0 0
Read 3b 3 0 1 2
Ivy lf 4 0 1 1
TChapman dh 4 1 1 1
Totals 31 12 10 8
2B – CoFairchild, Waggoner, CaFairchild 2. 3B – CChapman. HBP – Lefevre, CFairchild. SF – Read. SB – Lefevre, CFairchild, CChapman 2, CaFairchild 3, Price 2, Read, Ivy.
IP H R ER BB SO
Read 5 5 1 0 0 7
CoFairchild 1 0 0 0 1 3
PB – Herring. HBP – Read.
