Lions to face Coleman at bi-district

By Donnie A. Lucas

The Lion baseball team ended the regular season undefeated, advancing into the playoffs as the winner of District 8-2A.

Albany (16-3-1, 10-0) will face the Coleman Bluecats (12-10, 8-5) in the bi-district series that starts Friday and continues on Saturday.

Game 1 is set for Glen Rose at 6:30 p.m. Friday, with the Lions serving as the home team. Ticket prices are set at $5 for adults and $3 for students.

The series will move to Eastland on Saturday for Game 2 at 12:00 noon. A third game will follow Game 2 if needed. Ticket prices are the same in Eastland.

The Bluecats are the fourth place team from District 7-2A, while the Lions are the champs of District 8-2A.

Coach David Fairchild reported that Coleman split games with DeLeon, the winner of 7-2A, giving the Bearcats their lone district loss.

Albany finished the regular season with a 7-2 win in Hawley on April 27. The game was called in the sixth inning due to weather.

“We finished district 10-0, and I couldn’t be more proud of this group,” Fairchild said. “Now it’s time to go to work since we aren’t guaranteed anything now in the playoffs.”

The coach said that he doesn’t know a lot about Coleman at this point.

“They evidently have a pretty solid team, especially since they were the only team to beat DeLeon in their district,” Fairchild said.

Caden Price was the winning pitcher in Hawley, going four innings, allowing one run on one hit and two walks. He struck out 10 batters.

Cole Chapman came in as relief for one inning, allowing one run on one hit and one walk. He struck out three at the plate.

“I was very pleased with Caden’s pitching during the Hawley game,” the coach said. “He had control and was hitting his spots well.”

ALBANY LIONS vs Hawley

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

ALBANY 5 2 0 0 0 0 x 7/8/1

Hawley 0 0 0 0 2 x x 2/2/3

INDIVIDUAL STATS

C Neve 1 for 3, 1 HR, 1 RBI

J Chapman 3 for 4, 2 sgls, 1 dbl, 2 RBIs

L Ivy 1 for 3, 1 sgl, 1 RBI

W Webb 3 for 3, 3 sgls, 1 RBI

Senior William Webb and Jackson Chapman led the offense, combining for six of the Lions’ eight hits. Cade Neve also had a home run in the second inning.

JV Ends Season

The JV Lions closed their season with a 13-5 win over Hawley last week, ending the season with a 13-2 record.

Bryson Herring and Cole Read both hit home runs in the game.

Tyler Chapman pitched three innings for the team, with Taren Farmer and Lute Wheeler coming in as relief.