Local tourney moved to Clyde
The Albany Lions baseball team had to battle the elements for the second week in a row, but managed to get in two games in the shortenedAlbany Varsity Tournament.
The Lions (6-0) return to action at noon Friday at Snyder in their final outing before the start of the District 8-2A schedule.Albany opens district at 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 19 at Hawley.
“We really needed that third game,” coach David Fairchild said. “I had some more kids I wanted to pitch.”
The tournament was derailed by weather on Thursday, March 7 even with games moved to Clyde in order for teams to play on a turf field despite rain. One game was completed, but the rest of the day’s schedule was cancelled as lightning moved into the area.
“The weather’s been a problem the last two weeks,” the coach said. “It sleeted over at Hawleyinourfirsttournament, and it was cold and rainy for this one. Just two miserable weekends.”
On Friday, March 8, with games back in Albany, the Lions defeated Brady 10-0 in four innings and Eastland 11-0 in three innings. Lion pitchers hurled no-hitters in each game, giving Albany three no-hitters this season.
Against Brady, Tyler Chapman struck out 11 and walked one in shutting down the Bulldogs. Against Eastland, Cole Read worked 1.2 innings, striking out three, while Chip Chambers pitched 1.1 innings with one strikeout.
In 30 innings so far. Albany has allowed a total of six hits.
“The key to our success is going to be our pitching,” Fairchild said.
Against Brady, Read homered and drove in three runs in going 2 for 2. Cason Fairchild was 3 for 3 with a double and a triple, driving in one run, while Chapman was 2 for 3 with a double and two RBIs. Zane Waggoner, Brody Oliver, and Mason McCloy each had a hit with Oliver getting an RBI.
Chapman singled in a run and scored on a wild pitch in the first, then Albany batted around in a five-run second. Read’s homerun highlighted a three-run fourth.
AgainstEastland,Waggoner homeredanddroveinfourruns. Read, who had two RBIs, and Calhan Fairchild each went 2 for 2 with a double. Adam Hill had a two-run double, one of five extra-base hits for Albany.
Waggoner started things off with a three-run blast to left as the Lions sent 14 men to the plate during a nine-run first. He was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded later in the inning.
Albany had 10 hits in each game.
“Our top four or five hitters are doing a great job,” David Fairchild said.”The back end of our lineup just needs to keep working. We’ve had too many strikeouts, but it’s early in the season.”
Junior Varsity
The JV Lions picked up a game Monday, March 11, beating Eastland 15-0.
“CalhanFairchildstarted, and Mason McCloy pitched,” David Fairchild said. “We had lots of good contact.”
The coach said he is looking for a couple more players to enable the JV to play more games this spring. Currently, low numbers make fielding varsity and JV untenable.
“This is the first time it’s been an issue in 21 years, but it is an issue to deal with,” he said. “We’ll roll with it and do what we’ve got to do.”
