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Lincoln Baseball Association will
play all-star games on the Fourth

[JUNE 28, 2001]  The Lincoln Baseball Association will play three all-star games at the Rec diamonds this Fourth of July.

Play commences at 10 a.m. with a nine-inning affair between all-stars from Lincoln’s Pony Division and all-stars from the Bloomington Pony Division. These players are ages 13 and 14. At 11 a.m. the Mustang (9 and 10 years old) and Bronco (11 and 12 years old) all-stars will play. These games will involve players from the Mustang and Bronco divisions here in Lincoln.

After the all-star games are over, the LBA will have a slow-pitch softball game involving all parents, coaches, umpires and LBA board members who wish to participate. This game will be played on the Bronco diamond. For a twist, some current ballplayers will be asked to coach and umpire this game.

For more information on the softball game, or any of the all-star games, please check out the LBA website at http://www.geocities.com/lincolnbaseball or call Jim Stone at 732-3285.

[News release]

JV Legion baseball

Lincoln vs. Decatur

[JUNE 28, 2001]  Lincoln’s junior varsity Legion baseball team split a twin bill with the Decatur JV Wednesday night at Lindstrom Field in Lincoln. Decatur won the first game 1-0, and Lincoln came back to win the nightcap 9-5.

Lincoln, now 12-9 for the season, will play in the Mount Zion double-elimination tournament this weekend. Lincoln will play Rochester in the first game at 8 a.m. Saturday. Six teams are entered in the tourney.

Losing pitcher Blaen Fletcher and Decatur’s Pruitt hooked up in a great pitching duel in the opener Wednesday night.  Decatur scored the only run of the game in the top of the seventh on a single, stolen base and a bloop single. Fletcher was outstanding, giving up just five hits while striking out six and walking none. Lincoln managed seven hits in the game but could not dent the plate due to some faulty base running.

Chris Matson and Miles Musick each had two hits in the game, while Fletcher, Bryce Cunningham and Bobby Ward each had one hit.

In the second game, Ryan Purcell, Cunningham and Jason Williams each collected a pair of hits to lead Lincoln to the 9-5 victory. Purcell had a double, scored a run and drove in two runs. Cunningham had a pair of hits with two runs scored and one driven in, while Williams had a run scored and a run batted in with his two hits. Jason Bednarko and Trent Kavelman had the only other Lincoln hits in the contest.

Chris Gosda picked up the victory, working the first five innings, giving up six hits and four runs, one of which was earned, while striking out two and walking none. Matt Brayfield worked the sixth inning and ran into trouble in the seventh when he loaded the bases. Trent Kavelman came on to strike out the final batter to gain the save.

[to top of second column in this article]

First game

Decatur      000 000 1 – 1 - 5 - 0

Lincoln       000 000 0 – 0 - 7 - 0

Pruitt (W) & Spurlock; Fletcher (L) & Peters.

Second game

Decatur     012 010 1 – 5 - 6 - 3

Lincoln      024 210 x – 9 - 8 - 4

Neiburg (L), Brozio (4), Bruce (6) & Collins; Gosda (W), Brayfield (6), Kavelman (7-S) & Bednarko.

[Bill Martinie]

JV Legion baseball

Cobras play in weekend Lincoln Heat tournament

[JUNE 26, 2001]  The Lincoln JV Legion baseball team won one of three games over the weekend in the Lincoln Heat baseball tournament at the Lincoln Recreation Department Lindstrom Field.   

Lincoln's lone win came due to a forfeit from the Twin City Twins. Olympia defeated the Springfield Stars 2-1 to win the tournament championship.

Lincoln suffered two one-run defeats, losing to Olympia 4-3 on Saturday. Rochester handed the Lincoln team a 3-2 setback Friday night.

In the Saturday game against Olympia, Lincoln took a 3-2 lead into the seventh only to lose on a wild pitch and an error with two outs. Leading the offensive attack for Lincoln were John Peters and Bobby Ward with two hits each.  Ryan Purcell, Mitch Shelley and Matt Bayfield each had one hit.

Lincoln, now 11-8 for the season, will play host to Decatur at 6 p.m. Wednesday in a doubleheader at Lindstrom Field.

[Bill Martinie]

[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]

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