Lions advance to area baseball playoff
By Sam Waller
The Albany Lions took the first step in the Class 2A baseball playoffs Friday, May 5, sweeping Miles in a bi-district series played at Sweetwater.
The Lions (19-2) will meet Eldorado (15-5) in the area round on Thursday, May 11 (today), at Liberty Hill. The series winner will play either Hamilton or Colorado City next week in the regional quarterfinals.
Game 1 of the area series will start at 1:00 p.m. with Game 2 to follow. Game 3, if necessary, will be played at 11:00 a.m. Friday, May 12, allowing Lion players Cason Fairchild and Adam Hill to report for the Class 2A state track meet, being held about 40 miles away in Austin.
Lions coach David Fairchild said proximity to Austin was only part of the reason he agreed to play the series at Liberty Hill.
“With all the rain we’ve had, we need to play on turf,” he said. “We’re traveling a little farther, but we’re on a full-turf field.”
Directions
To reach the Liberty Hill High School baseball field, take Hwy. 6 to Cisco, then take US Hwy. 183 to Brownwood. Stay on 183 until it intersects with SH 29 in Williamson County west of Georgetown. Turn right onto SH 29 and proceed northwest to County Road 277. The baseball field is located behind the football stadium.
Game Details
Against Miles, Albany won Game 1 5-1 and completed the sweep with a 10-2 victory in Game 2, coming from behind both times.
“We did a good job of putting the ball in play,” David Fairchild said. “It had been a week and a half since we played, and we were a little rusty. Hopefully with this short week, we can get back in the groove and take care of business.”
Coy Lefevre was a combined 4 for 7 in the two games, while Keatin Russell was 3 for 6, Cason Fairchild was 3 for 7, and Tyler Chapman was 3 for 8.
“Cason had a good day defensively, and Keatin and Coy had a good day at the plate,” David Fairchild said.
While Lion pitchers allowed baserunners in 12 of 14 innings in the series, they allowed the Bulldogs to score in just two, while leaving the bases loaded three times.
“Pitching is the key, and we had 12 walks in the two games,” David Fairchild said. “That is way too many.”
However, the ability to work out of trouble kept the Lions from falling behind once they took the lead.
“Our guys found a way to get out of innings,” the coach said. “We had the bats come alive a little bit in the second game and found a way to get out of the series.”
In the opener, Tyler Chapman pitched a complete game, scattering five hits. He struck out nine and walked three, but had three wild pitches.
Miles broke a scoreless tie in the third with a single and a two-out error. Albany pulled even in the bottom of the inning when Cole Chapman worked a bases-loaded walk, but the Lions left the bags full.
Albany took the lead in the fourth when Lefevre led off with the Lions’ first hit and scored on Russell’s single.
Albany extended the lead in the sixth when Caden Price singled in a run and Calhan Fairchild drove in two more on a bunt single.
In the seventh, Miles had the tying run on deck when Read threw out a runner attempting to steal. Three pitches later, Tyler Chapman notched the game-ending strikeout.
After getting just five hits, all singles, in the first game, the Lions broke loose for 16 in Game 2. Cole Chapman homered with Tyler Chapman and Russell adding triples. Lefevre drove in three runs.
Cole Chapman worked 4.1 innings on the mound, giving up two runs on four hits. He struck out six and walked five.
Read, who started at catcher before moving to shortstop in the third inning, finished up with 2.2 hitless innings. He gave up four walks but got seven of the final eight outs on strikeouts.
Miles again struck first, getting a two-run triple in the first inning.
Albany took the lead with five runs in the third. Russell led off with a triple and scored on Calhan Fairchild’s single. With one out, Cole Chapman put the Lions ahead with a home run to right. Lefevre and Read delivered back-to-back two-out RBI singles.
Lefevre singled in another run in the fifth and scored on a balk to make it 7-2 before Price added a run-scoring groundout.
In the sixth, Tyler Chapman tripled and scored on Zane Waggoner’s single. Lefevre followed with his third RBI single of the game to close the scoring.
In Eldorado, the second seed out of District 5-2A, Albany faces a team that scored in double figures twice in sweeping Hamlin in bi-district. The Eagles beat the Pied Pipers 11-0 and 10-3.
“We don’t know a lot about them,” David Fairchild said. “In the past, they’ve had a good baseball team, and they’re coached well. They lost a few kids last year, but it should be a good matchup.”
Many of the same athletes were on the field in November when the Lions and Eagles met in the bi-district round of the football playoffs.
“Eldorado has good athletes,” David Fairchild said. “I figure they’ll come out and be ready to play.”
CLASS 2A BI-DISTRICT
GAME 1
ALBANY 5, MILES 1
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E
MILES 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1/5/3
ALBANY 0 0 1 1 0 3 X 5/5/3
atbat runs hits RBI
CsFairchild 3b 2 0 0 0
CChapman ss 2 0 0 1
TChapman p 4 0 1 0
Waggoner 1b 3 0 0 0
Lefevre 2b 3 1 1 0
Read c 2 0 0 0
LeMay cr 0 1 0 0
Price cf 1 2 1 0
Russell dh 2 1 1 1
Hill lf 0 0 0 0
ClFairchild rf 2 0 1 2
Totals 21 5 5 4
SB – CChapman.
IP H R ER BB SO
TChapman 7 5 1 0 3 9
WP – TChapman 3.
GAME 2
ALBANY 10, MILES 2
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E
ALBANY 0 0 5 0 3 2 0 10/16/2
MILES 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2/4/2
atbat runs hits RBI
ClFairchild cf 5 0 3 0
CChapman ss 3 1 1 2
TChapman 3b 4 2 2 0
Waggoner 1b 4 2 2 1
Lefevre 2b 4 2 3 3
Read p 4 1 2 1
Price rf 4 0 0 1
Russell dh 4 1 2 0
Hill lf 0 0 0 0
ClFairchild rf 1 1 1 1
Oliver c 2 0 0 0
LeMay cr 0 0 0 0
Totals 35 10 16 9
3B – TChapman, Russell. HR – CChapman. HBP – Oliver. SB – CsFairchild 2, Waggoner, ClFairchild.
IP H R ER BB SO
CChapman 4.1 4 2 2 5 5
Read 2.2 0 0 0 4 7
WP – CChapman 3, Read 2. PB – Read.
