Strong Start
By Donnie A. Lucas
Three varsity pitchers combined for a no-hitter in the season opener Friday as the Lion baseball team shut out Abilene Christian High School 10-0.
The boys defeated Eastland Tuesday 5-2, with results to be reported next week.
Albany’s varsity will play in the Hamlin tournament starting Thursday (today) against Colorado City starting at 3:00 p.m. The Lions will return to the tournament on Friday for a 1:00 p.m. game, followed by an 11:00 a.m. bout versus Merkel on Saturday.
The team will be open during the first part of spring break next week, but is scheduled to play in the Brock tournament on Thursday and Friday.
The varsity took the field for the first time against Abilene Christian, putting together a good showing for an initial outing.
“I thought our pitching was solid with all three pitchers we used in command,” coach David Fairchild said. “We had 10 hits on offense as well, so it was overall a good start to the season.”
Senior Ben West opened at the mound, going two outs into the third inning with just one walk and eight strikeouts.
Cade Neve came in for two innings, keeping the trend going with six strikeouts. Jackson Chapman got the final out on strikes to end the game.
Albany tallied one home run on the day, with Neve sliding in for an in-the-park homer in the third.
Catcher Parker Henry recorded the most plays with 15.
Albany 0 4 2 2 2 10/10/0
ACHS 0 0 0 0 0 0/0/3
C Lefevre 2 for 3, 1 sgl, 1 tpl, 2 RBIs
C Fairchild 1 for 3, 1 dbl, 2 RBIs
B Kayga 1 for 1, 1 sgl, 3 runs
B West 1 for 2, 1 sgl, 1 RBI. 1 run
P Henry 0 for 1, 1 run
C Neve 2 for 2, 1 sgl, 1 HR, 2 RBIs
J Chapman 1 for 3, 1 sgl, 2 RBIs
BJ Morris 1 for 1, 1 sgl, 1 run
L Ivy 1 for 2, 1 sgl, 1 run
The JV Lions hosted a junior varsity tournament last week, winning two of their three games.
The JV players defeated Hamlin 7-4 and Baird 9-6. Their lone loss was to Cisco, 11-3.
“I thought we saw some good pitching by Colby Hargett, Brodey Jones, and London Fuentes,” Fairchild said. “They each did a great job of control and throwing the strikes.”
The coach named Caden Price, Cole Chapman, and Jayden Lucas as offensive standouts with multiple hits.
“We are young and still learning,” the coach said. “We will get better with more time on the field. Overall, it was a good tournament for us.”
The coach added that he doesn’t know when the next JV game will be scheduled since several varsity players had to “play down” to fill out a JV team.
