Sports News,  Sports Talk,  Announcements

Sports News Elsewhere  (fresh daily from the Web)

Junior Legion baseball

Lincoln team ends initial season

[JULY 27, 2001]  Mattoon eliminated Lincoln, 4-1, in the Junior Varsity Division baseball tournament Thursday at Chatham. The Lincoln JV baseball team completed its first season of competition with a 20-18 record.

Lincoln scored a run in the second inning to take the lead. John Peters singled, moved to second on an infield out and scored on a single by Steve Shanle. Mattoon came back with two runs in the third to take the lead, the big blow being a triple that was fair by inches down the right-field line. Mattoon added two more runs in the fifth to put the game away.

Coach Bill Martinie said: "We had plenty of opportunities; however, we did not come up with the big hit. We left eight men on base in the middle innings. One hit in the right place could have changed the outcome. We had seven hits, but it was unfortunate we were unable to get the key hit.

"We played well in the tournament and came out with a 2-2 record. I am pleased with the effort of the kids in the tourney. They gave it their best shot."

[to top of second column in this article]

Peters finished the game with two hits in three trips to the plate and scored Lincoln’s lone run.  Adding one hit each for Lincoln were Steve Shanle, Miles Musick, Jason Williams, Bobby Ward and Blaen Fletcher.

Fletcher suffered the loss despite allowing just three hits.  Fletcher walked two batters and struck out three. Two of the four runs were earned.

Score by innings

Lincoln       010 000 0 – 1 - 7 - 4

Mattoon     002 020 x – 4 - 3 - 2

Fletcher (L) & Peters; Griffin (W), Price (6) & Wirth.

[Bill Martinie]

Junior Legion baseball

Lincoln vs. Chatham

[JULY 26, 2001]  The Chatham Diamond Kings handed the Lincoln JV Legion team a 7-0 setback in the division tournament at Chatham Wednesday night. Lincoln will take on Mattoon at 2 p.m. Thursday in Chatham.  

Chatham scored single runs in the second and third inning, and some poor defensive play hurt Lincoln in the fourth. Coach Bill Martinie said, "We let a pop fly, on the infield, drop for a hit to open the gate. We then failed to get an out on a sacrifice bunt attempt.   Before we were able to get three outs, Chatham pushed across four runs, and they really shouldn’t have scored in the inning.  That was the difference in the game.

"We loaded the bases in the seventh inning on a single by Steve Shanle, a double by Jason Williams, and loaded the bases when Bobby Ward was hit by a pitch.   However, their pitcher fanned the next batter to end the game."

Chris Gosda suffered the loss for Lincoln although pitching well. Gosda permitted 10 hits while striking out four and walking one. Four of the seven runs scored were earned runs.

In addition to Shanle and Williams, Miles Musick collected a first-inning single as Stead limited Lincoln to three hits in the contest.

Score by innings

Lincoln         000 000 0 – 0 - 3 - 2

Chatham      011 410 x – 7 - 10 - 0

Gosda (L) & Peters; Stead (W) & Pinkstaff. 

[Bill Martinie]

Junior Legion baseball

Lincoln wins second game in Chatham tournament

[JULY 25, 2001]  Lincoln rode the pitching of Trent Kavelman to a 5-0 victory in the second game of the Junior Legion Division tournament at Chatham Tuesday afternoon.   The victory raises the Lincoln record to 20-16 for the season. Lincoln will play at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in its next action.

Lincoln scored three times in the bottom of the first inning, and that would have been enough, as Kavelman limited Medora to three hits while striking out four and walking none. Coach Bill Martinie said, "Trent pitched an outstanding game, and we made some good defensive plays behind him. We got some timely hits and made good decisions on the bases."

In the first inning, Ryan Purcell led off with a walk and stole second.  He moved to third on a single by Miles Musick and scored on a wild pitch, with Musick moving to second.  Bryce Cunningham drew a walk, and both runners moved up on a wild pitch. John Peters hit a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Musick. Jason Williams then singled to center, scoring Cunningham with the third run of the inning.

In the second inning, Purcell again walked and stole second. Musick singled, sending Purcell to the plate with the fourth run of the game. The final Lincoln run crossed the plate in the fifth when Peters drew a walk, stole second and scored on a double to the fence by Williams.

Score by innings

Medora       000 000 0 – 0 - 3 - 0

Lincoln        310 010 x – 5 - 8 - 1

Darr (L) & McAfee; Kavelman (W) & Peters.

[Bill Martinie]

Junior Legion baseball

Lincoln advances to second round in Legion tourney

[JULY 24, 2001]  Lincoln scored a single run in the sixth and two in the seventh to defeat Urbana 3-2 in the opening round of the Junior Legion Division baseball tournament in Chatham Monday morning. Lincoln advances to the second round against Medora at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

Blane Fletcher picked up the victory for Lincoln with a nine-strikeout performance, while giving up two walks.  Urbana collected seven hits in the game, but Fletcher was tough in the key situations.

Lincoln scored a run in the sixth inning when Miles Musick drew a walk and stole second. Musick scored when Ryan Purcell collected Lincoln's only hit, a single to center. The run cut the Urbana lead to 2-1.

In the seventh inning, John Peters drew a leadoff walk, and after Steve Shanle sacrificed Peters to second, Jason Williams and Jason Bednarko each walked to load the bases.   Peters scored the tying run on a wild pitch, and one out later Williams scored the go-ahead run on another wild pitch.

Score by innings

Lincoln      000 001 2 – 3 - 1 - 1

Urbana      000 110 0 – 2 - 7 - 0

Fletcher (W) & Peters; Crane, Fell (7-L), McCartney (7) & Zimmerman.

[Bill Martinie]

[JULY 23, 2001]  CEFCU defeated a valiant J-GO Racing Engines team 18-4 Friday evening to win the playoff for the 2001 Mustang championship.

Starring for CEFCU were Tyson Smith and Jordan Nelson on the mound, and at the plate, Nelson with three hits and Smith with two hits. Also, Ethan Tabor belted a home run for the champions.

College baseball

[JULY 23, 2001]  Lincoln College baseball coach Tony Thomas has announced the signing of two more players to his squad for next season. The two recruits bring the total of incoming freshmen to 14.

Joining the Lynx next season are Frank Pesce and Lou Persino, both from Fenton High School in Bensonville. Pesce is a 6-1, 210-pound left-handed hitting catcher who has a strong arm and is a defensive standout. Persino, a 5-10, 180-pound infielder and outfielder, played third base for Fenton last season.

With 14 returning sophomores and a strong recruiting class of 14 freshmen, Thomas is hoping for big things next season. Thomas is also hopeful of signing one or two more prospects for next season.

[Bill Martinie,
Lincoln College sports information director]

[JULY 27, 2001]  Lincoln’s Brian Cook is now the lone Illini representative trying to garner a roster spot on Team USA.

That’s because fellow Illinois teammate Frank Williams injured his right wrist when he fell on it during a Monday morning practice session down in Dallas, Texas. He and Cook were hoping to be named to the official 12-man squad that was scheduled to be named sometime July 27. Williams had his wrist examined and X-rayed on Monday night. The X-rays proved to be negative. However, since he was not able to work out at the practices on Tuesday or Wednesday, he made the difficult decision to withdraw from the team. Cook and Williams had been in Texas all week hoping for a slot on the team that will represent the United States at the 2001 FIBA World Championship For Young Men.

Players trying out for the team are Troy Bell (Boston College / Minneapolis, Minn.); LaVell Blanchard (Michigan / Ann Arbor, Mich.); Carlos Boozer (Duke / Juneau, Alaska); Caron Butler (Connecticut / Racine, Wis.); Nick Collison (Kansas / Iowa Falls, Iowa); Brian Cook (Illinois / Lincoln, Ill.); Chris Duhon (Duke / Slidell, La.); Reggie Evans (Iowa / Pensacola, Fla.); Dahntay Jones (Duke / Hamilton Square, N.J.); Jason Kapono (UCLA / Lakewood, Calif.); Jameer Nelson (St. Joseph’s / Chester, Pa.); Michael Sweetney (Georgetown / Oxen Hill, Md.); and Marcus Taylor (Michigan State / Lansing, Mich.).

[to top of second column in this article]

Tryouts were limited to males who were born on Jan. 1, 1980, or later, making this the 21-and-under team.

Once the team is announced, they will take off for a weekend stint of training in Oakland, Calif. Then, it’s on to Saitama, Japan, for the world championship. The U.S. team will compete against 11 other teams and will start the tournament in Pool B with Argentina, Croatia, Israel, Japan and South Korea. The other teams in Pool A are Australia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Qatar, Slovenia and Spain.

[Jeff Mayfield]

[JUNE 21, 2001]  We were able to reach Lincoln American Legion baseball coach Mike Thornton at his office. What follows is a brief interview that we had with him concerning the rest of this summer’s season…

A: We are 1-6 but should be 5-2. We’ve been competitive, and we’re hangin’ in there. We’ve got eight guys back from last year. Primarily, the bulk of them are from Lincoln, but we fill in with guys from the area. The eight back from last year are solid. I think we’ll be OK. Once we get a few wins under our belts, I think we could get on a roll.

A: Well, it’s different every day. We use a different lineup every day. We’re moving guys around here and there and seeing who can do what and what we’re going to be comfortable with. We’ll do that until the tournament at the end of the season, and by then we’ll have things pretty well solidified.

A: I hope I don’t leave anybody out. Korey Davis is from Elkhart. The Lincoln kids are Chris Phillips, Andrew Bartman, Justin Dedman, Aaron Mattson and Nick Bay. Matt McQuality is from Williamsville and Tyler Hendrickson is from Athens.

A: Yes, they did. They really did well with them. I’m not displeased with what we’ve got at all. I think that we’ve got a pretty well-rounded ball club.

A: Korey Davis has been a standout! He just jumps out at you. I like the way he conducts himself. He is very businesslike. He goes out there and does his job. He is steady and good. He doesn’t try to be too flashy, he’s just confident in himself.

A: Andrew Bartman as much as anyone. Korey kind of leads by example and Bartman’s kind of a yell guy. I guess you’d call him a rah-rah guy. It’s not that the rest of the guys aren’t or don’t; it’s just that those two make their presence felt. It’s hard to miss them.

A: It will be OK once we get some consistency. We played several games in a row, and now we’ve been off since last Thursday … well, we did play on Thursday. But, we’ve had two games postponed on us Saturday and another one postponed on us tonight! So, we’re playing Wednesday and Thursday, and we’ve got a doubleheader on Saturday. Next week we’ll jump right back into the schedule of having three games a week again. We’ll have to see where we’re at, at that time.

[to top of second column in this article]

Q: Who will be some of your starting pitchers, and who will be your closers?

A: They’re all pretty good and pretty consistent. Phillips had a good high school year and so did Davis. Michael Martin went out a week ago Sunday and held Danville, a perennial power, to just three runs over nine innings. He did an outstanding job that day. He was very impressive. I’ve had Andy Knopp in a couple of times as a closer in the eighth and ninth innings, and he has been impressive in that role. He comes in and just throws strikes. He won’t walk people. If you don’t walk anybody, you’re going to be successful. At least you’ve got a better chance of being successful. Other than that we’ll probably try them all. Ryan Williams is a pitcher, McQuailty is a pitcher, Matt Gleason is, and of course Phillips. There are several of our players that are pretty good hurlers. It may get done by committee as much as anything else. We have a pitch count on all of them. When it gets up to about 80, you start looking real close and take it from that point. If they get in trouble after that point, you go and get ’em. I’m not going to burn somebody out. On a nice warm day you can sometimes throw over 100 pitches, but other days they just can’t.

A: It’s worked well. We’ve sat down and talked several times and traded notes. We’re definitely on the same page.

A: He’s certainly working hard at it!

A: Again, Davis. He’s been ripping the cover off the ball. Danny Schick has hit well. Blake Schoonover has been hitting the ball on the nose.

A: We usually play Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at 7 p.m., with Tuesday and Thursday games usually at home, out at the Rec. Then we play Saturdays, and we’ve got a couple of Sundays thrown in there, usually at 11, noon or 1 o’clock.

A: We had 38 originally scheduled, but we’ll probably only get in 34.

A: I think that we will do real well, once we get it rolling. No excuses, but the reality — some of our guys hadn’t played in three or more weeks. Our timing was off just a bit, but now it’s coming back.

On behalf of the LDN, we certainly wish the Legion baseball teams and all local summer baseball and softball teams the best of luck!

[Jeff Mayfield]

Announcements

[JULY 27, 2001]  Boys in grades five through eight at Zion Lutheran School have their first baseball practice Wednesday, Aug. 1. Practice is scheduled from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the school.

Players need to bring equipment, their completed physical consent form and water.

For more information, call Steve Schumacher at 732-7101.

[JULY 19, 2001]  Every LCHS fall athlete is required to have an athletic permit card on file in the activity director’s office before trying out or practicing for any fall sports.

All fall athletes and parents must attend a mandatory meeting Monday, Aug. 6, at 6:30 p.m. in the LCHS auditorium. The meeting will cover the athletic permit card, extracurricular code and parent-coach involvement. No fall athletes will be allowed to try out or practice until they attend this meeting. If you cannot attend on Aug. 6, please call Darrell Hanslow, activity director, at (217) 732-4131, Ext. 250, to set up an appointment with him.

Also, at 7 p.m. there will be a meeting for all fall athletes and their parents with their head coach. The head coach will cover team rules and practice schedules.

Starting dates for fall sports

Football — Aug. 8

Cross country — Aug. 13

Boys golf — Aug. 13

Girls golf — Aug. 13

Boys soccer — Aug. 13

Girls swimming — Aug. 13

Girls tennis — Aug. 13

Volleyball — Aug. 13

[LCHS news release]

[JULY 17, 2001]  A 3-on-3 basketball tournament will be part of the Delavan Fall Festival on Saturday, Sept. 1.

There will be numerous divisions for males and females age 8 and up. This is a double-elimination tournament with awards to first-, second- and third-place teams in each division. Each player will also receive a T-shirt.

The tournament will include 3-point contests and free-throw contests throughout the day, with prizes awarded.

For more information or to obtain an entry form, call Jack Wheeler at (309) 244-9881 or Dennis Moehring at (309) 244-9241. Entries must be received by Friday, Aug. 17.

Back to top

News | Sports | Business | Rural Review | Teaching & Learning | Home and Family | Obituaries

Community | Perspectives | Law & Courts | Leisure Time | Spiritual Life | Health & Fitness | Letters to the Editor