Lions stay on top with 5-0 record
By Donnie A. Lucas
The Lion baseball team knocked off the top-ranked team in Class 2A in a District 8-2A match-up against Anson last week to take the lead in the district race as the first half of district games comes to an end.
Albany hosted Hawley on Tuesday, earning an 11-1 win to remain undefeated through the first round of league action. Details of the game will be reported next week.
The Lions have a 11-3-1 overall record and are 5-0 in district.
The varsity Lions are scheduled to host Stamford on Friday starting at 5:00 p.m., followed by a JV game. Albany will be at home next Tuesday to host Haskell at 5:00 p.m., again with the JV following.
Albany started slow against the Anson Tigers last week, allowing two runs in the opening frame before answering with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second.
The game stayed knotted at 4-4 after the third inning, but the Lions scored three runs to Anson’s one over the next two innings to post a 7-5 win.
“We got off to a rocky start in the top half of the first,” coach David Fairchild said, “but the team was able to refocus and stayed in the game to come back.”
Cade Neve got the win from the mound, going six innings and allowing five runs on nine hits and two walks. He struck out 10 Tigers at the plate.
““I was very proud of Cade,” the coach said. “He had a long inning or two due to errors behind him, but he overcame and finished strong, with just three earned runs. Jackson (Chapman) came in to close the game and was spot on with his command.”
Chapman pitched the final innings for the save with one strikeout.
“We hit the ball well throughout the line-up, with several clutch hits,” Fairchild said. “Our offense hit the ball hard, eliminating the strikeouts and putting the ball into play.”
ALBANY LIONS vs Anson
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E
Anson 2 0 2 0 0 1 0 5/9/3
ALBANY 0 2 2 1 2 0 x 7/10/4
INDIVIDUAL STATS
C Fairchild 1 for 4, 1 sgl, 1 RBI
C Lefevre 2 for 3, 1 sgl, 1 tpl
J Chapman 2 for 3, 2 sgls, 2 RBIs
C Chapman 0 for 3, 1 RBI
L Ivy 1 for 3, 1 sgl
C Read 1 for 1, 1 dbl, 1 RBI
C Price 2 for 4, 2 sgls, 2 RBIs
W Webb 4 for 1, 1 sgl
The Lions traveled to Cisco on April 1, bringing back a 13-2 win.
Albany opened the scoring with two runs in both the second and third innings and scored another in the fifth before blowing the game wide open with six runs in the sixth.
Jackson Chapman got the win with six innings on the mound, allowing two runs on four hits and two walks. He had seven strikeouts at the plate.
Caden Price came in for the seventh and got the save, allowing no hits or runs and throwing one strikeout.
“We hit the ball well, but we still have several kids who need to start hitting the ball,” said Fairchild. “Overall, it was a good win.”
ALBANY LIONS vs Cisco
SCORE BY INNING 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R/H/E
ALBANY 0 2 2 0 1 6 2 13/13/0
Cisco 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2/4/4
INDIVIDUAL STATS
C Fairchild 2 for 5, 2 sgls, 1 RBI
C Lefevre 2 for 4, 1 sgl, 1 dbl, 1 RBI
C Neve 2 for 5, 1 sgl, 1 dbl, 2 RBIs
J Chapman 2 for 3, 2 sgls, 2 RBIs
L Ivy 1 for 3, 1 sgl, 2 RBIs
C Read 2 for 3, 2 sgls
T Chapman 1 for 1, 1 sgl
W Webb 1 for 5, 1 sgl
Z Waggoner 0 for 1, 1 RBI
JV Beats Haskell
The JV Lions defeated Anson as well last week, 6-1.
Cole Read was the winning pitcher.
The coach said the team had several big hits.
Cisco did not have a JV squad for Albany to play last Thursday.
