Lions post 16-4 district win
The Albany Lions managed a split in their first two District 8-2Abaseball outings last week astwoclosegamesweredecided in the late innings.
The Lions (8-1 overall, 2-1 district) won 14-6 Tuesday, March26atHaskelltoconclude a three-game road trip to open district. Details will be reported next week.
Albany plays its first home district game at 5:00 p.m. Thursday, March 28 (today) as Stamford visits.
On Tuesday, March 19, the Lions suffered a 4-3 loss at Hawley in their district opener, giving up three runs in the sixth inning. Albany bounced back Friday, March 22 with a 6-2 win at Anson, scoring four runs in the top of the seventh.
“Wehavetocontinuetowork hard,” coach David Fairchild said. “We have several young new ones who just need innings under their belts.”
At Hawley, the Lions managed just two hits but also held theBearcatstotwo.TylerChapman struck out nine over 4.2 innings, but earned no decision asHawley’sWestynBalchwent the distance, striking out 14.
“We had a battle going, facing astrongNo.1fromHawley,” Fairchild said. “I thought Brody Oliver had a good game behind the plate.”
Chapman’s two-run double in the third gave the Lions a 2-1 lead. Cole Read added an RBI triple in the sixth for a 3-1 edge.
Then the Bearcats rallied in the bottom of the inning. Read, who took over on the mound in the fifth, gave up a walk, an infield single, and a hit batter to load the bases with no outs. An error allowed a run to score and a second hit batter forced in the tying run.
Chip Chambers walked the only man he faced to force in the go-ahead run before Cason Fairchild got out of the inning.
Albany had the tying runonintheseventhwhen the game ended.
At Anson, the Lions neverleduntiltheseventh, when the Lions sent 10 men to the plate.
Chapman went 2 for 5 and Calhan Fairchild was 2 for 3 as Albany totaled eight hits.
Anson took leads of 1-0 and 2-1, but Albany tied the score on a run-scoring force out by Chambers in the fourth and a sacrifice fly by Read in the fifth.
Chambers got the start on the mound, striking out five in 3.1 innings while allowing two unearned runs on two hits. Read finished up with 3.2 hitless innings, striking out nine.
“I felt Chip had a good outing,” David Fairchild said.
In the seventh, Chapman and Zane Waggoner singled to start things off. Calhan Fairchild worked a one-out walk, but Chapman was forced out at the plate on a ground ball.
Waggoner then scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch and Oliver followed with a two-run double to right.
“Brody came up with a big hit with two outs in the seventh,” David Fairchild said.
Three consecutive walks, the last to Cason Fairchild, forced in courtesy runner Branson Beal with the final run.
Read then put the Tigers down in order to end the game.
HAWLEY 4, ALBANY 3
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E ALBANY 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 3/2/2 HAWLEY 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 4/2/4 atbat runs hits RBI
CsFairchild p 2 1 0 0 Chapman 2b 4 0 1 2 Waggoner 3b 2 1 0 0 Read ss 3 0 1 1 Chambers cf 3 0 0 0 ClFairchild 1b 3 0 0 0 Oliver c 3 0 0 0 Hill lf 3 0 0 0 McCloy rf 2 1 0 0 Peterson rf 1 0 0 0 Totals 26 3 2 3 2B – Chapman. 3B – Read. SB – Hill, CsFairchild. IP H R ER BB SO
Chapman 4.2 1 1 0 2 9 Read L 0.2 1 3 3 3 2 Chambers 0 0 0 0 1 0 CsFairchild 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 HBP – Chapman, Read 2.
ALBANY 6, ANSON 2
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E ALBANY 0 0 0 1 1 0 4 6/8/2 ANSON 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 2/2/0 atbat runs hits RBI
CsFairchild ss 3 0 0 1 Chapman 2b 5 1 2 0 Waggoner 3b 3 1 1 0 Read p 2 1 1 1 ClFairchild 1b 3 1 2 0 Chambers cf 3 1 0 1 Oliver c 3 0 1 2 Beal cr 0 1 0 0 Hill dh 3 0 0 0 Peterson lf 0 0 0 0 McCloy rf 2 0 1 0 Totals 27 6 8 5 2B – Oliver. SF – Read. SB – Hill, Beal, Chambers, Chapman, Waggoner. CS – ClFairchild.
IP H R ER BB SO
Chambers 3.1 2 2 0 4 5 Read W 3.2 0 0 0 1 9 WP – Chambers. HBP – Chambers, Read.
