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Lions advance to quarterfinals

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The Lion baseball team delivered a pair of shutouts last Thursday to take the area playoff round against McCamey during games moved to Coahoma due to rain in San Angelo, where the series was originally slated.

Albany handed the Badgers a 4-0 loss in the first game of the double header, followed by a 14-0 victory in Game 2 to seal the title.

The Lions (17-6) will face district foe Haskell (11-11) in the regional quarterfinal series set for Thursday, May 16 at McMurry University’s Driggers Field. Game 1 is scheduled for 4:00 p.m., followed by the second game at 7:00 p.m. If needed, Game 3 will be on Friday at 4:00 p.m. at McMurry.

Ticket prices for the series have been set at $5 for adults and $3 for students. No passes will be accepted.

Quarterfinal Match-up

The Lions and Indians were both District 8-2A opponents, splitting games in the regular season. Haskell won the first round meeting 10-9, while the Lions closed out the regular season with a 4-1 win over Haskell to take second place. The Indians finished in third.

The Lions picked up big wins over Cross Plains (13-3, 15-1) and McCamey (4-0, 14-0) in the first two rounds of the playoffs, while the Indians defeated Winters in their bi-district series 9-7, 13-6, and edged out Forsan last weekend 7-8, 8-2, 7-4.

The district champion Hawley Bearcats are also playing a rematch against Stamford in Hermleigh starting on Friday.

“Our whole district is matching back up in the third round of the playoffs, which is very unusual,” coach David Fairchild said. “That just speaks volumes about the quality of our really close district race.”

The Lions lost two of three games in the first half of district, coming back to take three straight wins in the second half.

“Haskell was a tough match-up for us in district,” the coach said. “Even though we split games with them, we struggled at the plate against their pitching. We are going to have to do a much better job of hitting the ball this time.”

Area Round Details

The coach said that the Lions won behind strong pitching in the two bouts against McCamey.

“Ben West went all seven innings for us in the first game, allowing just one hit and striking out 13,” Fairchild said. “He had a great pitching performance and was very competitive.”

West allowed only two walks in the game.

 Three pitchers combined to shut out the Badgers in the second game.

“Cade Neve did a good job opening for us, going three and a third innings, with Josh Dyer coming in for the final two outs in the fourth, both on strikeouts,” the coach said. “Then Ryan Hill came in for the first time this season and pitched the last inning, getting two strikeouts. Our pitching was very solid, which makes us hard to beat.”

Neve threw seven strikeouts and walked three. He allowed one hit, but no runs. Hill gave up one hit and one walk, but struck out two.

“We had great performances at the plate too,” the coach said. “Jackson Chapman got a couple of really big hits in the first game, and Cooper Fairchild, B.J. Morris, and Luke Ivy all got big hits for us in the second game.”

game 1

SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E

ALBANY 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 4/6/1

McCamey 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0/1/0

INDIVIDUAL STATS

B West 1 for 4, 1 sgl, 1 run

C Neve 1 for 3, 1 sgl, 1 RBI

J Chapman 2 for 3, 1 sgl, 1 dbl, 3 RBIs

BJ Morris 0 for 3, 1 run

L Ivy 1 for 3, 1 sgl

J Dyer 1 for 1, 1 sgl, 2 runs

 

game 2

SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 R/H/E

ALBANY 0 8 6 0 x 14/6/1

McCamey 0 0 0 0 0 0/2/2

INDIVIDUAL STATS

C Fairchild 1 for 2, 1 sgl, 4 RBIs, 2 runs

K Everitt 0 for 1, 1 RBI

B Kayga 1 for 2, 1 sgl, 1 RBI, 1 run

B West 1 for 2, 1 sgl, 2 runs

P Henry 0 for 1, 1 RBI, 1 run

C Neve 0 for 2, 1 RBI, 2 runs

BJ Morris 2 for 4, 1 sgl, 1 dbl, 2 RBIs, 2 runs

L Ivy 1 for 2, 1 dbl, 1 RBI, 2 runs

J Dyer 2 runs