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Pony baseball results

[JUNE 4, 2002] In a Pony Division baseball game Monday, June 3, Brian Willmert led the way in the Knights of Columbus Phillies’ 11-1 victory over the Bloomington Astros. He threw a complete game five-inning no-hitter and had 13 strikeouts for the game.

Offensively the Phillies were led by a double by Joey Heidbreder and singles by Jeremy Moore, Jonathan Lessen and David Williams.

[Provided by Duane Moore]

Bronco results

[JUNE 4, 2002] Waterstreet Catering improved to 2-0 by defeating the Mason City Cobras 15-12 in Bronco League action.

Waterstreet stats: Nate Kunkel was 2-for-3 with four RBIs. Tyson Smith went 3-for-3 and scored three times. Jon Oliver reached base and scored three times, along with playing great defense at shortstop.

Mason City stats: Cole Brownfield reached base four times, had two doubles and scored three times. Trent Gardner had two hits, a walk and two RBIs.

[Provided by T.J. Swarts]

Gators open season with gusto

[JUNE 4, 2002] The Lincoln Gator Swim Club came away from this past weekend’s season-opening meet with outstanding achievements. This was the first USS long-course meet of the summer season. It was hosted by the Decatur Swim Club. Competition was fierce as teams from all over the state attended the three-day event at Nelson Pool in Decatur.

Coached by Heidi Heidbreder, the Gators had an exciting weekend setting team records, meet records and also one Junior Olympic qualifying time. Stephanie Couch, Gabrielle Ernst, Brennan Elsas, Sam Wood and Alberta Danley set team records. Elsas set both a meet and team record with his time of 44.02 in the 50 backstroke.

Elsas placed first overall in the 8 & Under Boys division and Sam Wood achieved a JO time in the 100 fly. That time qualifies him for the state meet the first part of August.

Lincoln Gator Swim Club results

Summer opener: May 31-June 2 in Decatur

8 & Under Girls

Sara Fuller 50 fly 8th 1:14.96

50 free 9th 56.62

50 breast 6th 1:08.79

50 back 10th 1:10.20

8 & Under Boys

Brennan Elsas 50 fly 1st 42.88

50 free 1st 37.07

50 breast 1st 52.34

(Team Record)

50 back 1st 44.02

(Meet Record & Team Record)

Zach Ziemba 50 fly 2nd 49.98

50 free 4th 41.72

50 breast 7th 1:10.55

50 back 5th 57.74

10 & Under Girls

Alberta Danley 800 free 40th 15:27.95

(Team Record)

100 back 14th B 1:53.97

50 fly 10th B 48.50

50 free 7th B 41.03

100 breast 17th B 2:08.72

200 IM 16th 3:46.01

100 free 1st B 1:27.71

50 breast 13th B 57.79

50 back 13th B 53.30

100 fly 7th B 2:01.53

Ashlyn Schleder 100 back 10th B 1:51.23

50 fly 2nd C 54.52

50 free 8th B 41.10

Sara Fuller 100 back 12th C 2:26.91

100 breast 6th C 2:26.64

200 IM 27th 5:07.45

100 free 14th C 2:09.13

100 fly 13th C 2:59.92

10 & Under Boys

Sam Wood 800 free 20th 13:22.14

(Team Record)

100 back 2nd B 1:43.78

50 fly 2nd A 42.12

50 free 4th A 36.90

100 breast 5th A 1:56.92

200 IM 3rd 3:27.57

100 free 5th A 1:21.64

50 breast 4th A 52.57

50 back 3rd B 47.38

100 fly 2nd A 1:34.12

(JO time)

200 free 21st 3:03.65

[to top of second column in this article]

Brennan Elsas 100 back 6th 1:39.62

(Team record, 8&Under)

200 IM 6th 3:32.84

(Team record, 8&Under)

100 free 4th A 1:20.56

(Team record, 8&Under)

100 fly 4th A 1:41.98

Zach Ziemba 100 free 11th B 1:35.74

100 fly 11th B 2:05.23

13 & 14 Girls

Gabrielle Ernst 800 free 24th 10:56.31

(Team Record)

200 IM 3rd B 3:00.62

(Team Record)

100 fly 10th B 1:27.98

200 back 10th B 3:11.72

(Team Record)

100 free 6th A 1:09.05

(Team Record)

100 back 5th B 1:30.70

50 free 2nd A 30.96

(Team Record)

200 free 7th A 2:31.99

(Team Record)

100 breast 18th B 1:48.29

Leanna Gleason 100 fly 8th C 2:00.69

100 free 1st C 1:26.47

50 free 4th B 35.58

Senior Girls

Stephanie Couch 800 free 34th 11:59.48

(Team Record)

Reichle one of 22 Redbird athletes with 4.0

[JUNE 4, 2002] The LDN wishes to congratulate former Lady Railer Steph Reichle on her 4.0 (all A’s) GPA at ISU this year! The junior from Lincoln was one of 22 Redbird athletes to accomplish the feat.

Nice going, Steph!

[Jeff Mayfield]

Olympia baseball, softball champions

[JUNE 3, 2002] Both baseball and softball teams from Olympia High School took the championships in Class A this weekend.

Click on the following links for more information:

Baseball:

IHSA baseball tournament info

Baseball championship stats

Olympia baseball team stats

Softball:

IHSA softball tournament info

Softball championship stats

Olympia softball team stats

Pantagraph stories:

Olympia: Home of champions

Olympia champs come home

Legion baseball opens season at Rochester tourney

[JUNE 3, 2002] ROCHESTER — The Lincoln Junior Varsity Legion baseball team opened its season Saturday and Sunday at the Rochester Round Robin Tournament. The Lincoln squad rebounded from a pair of setbacks on Saturday to down Pekin 8-0 Sunday afternoon. Lincoln lost its opening game of the tourney to Taylorville 11-7 and lost to Carlinville 3-1.

Jason Williams pitched seven strong innings to lead the Lincoln team to victory Sunday. The sophomore right-hander allowed three hits, striking out seven and walking three. Williams also aided his own cause with a two-run homer over the left center-field fence in the third inning.

Lincoln plated a run in the first on a single by Bob Maestas, a stolen base and a run-scoring double by Drew Olson. Lincoln scored three times in the third. Olson reached base safely on an error, stole second, moved to third when the throw to second sailed into center and continued around the bases to score when the center fielder misplayed the ball. Miles Musick then followed with a single and Williams hit the homer.

Lincoln added an unearned run in the fifth and put the game out of reach with three runs in the seventh. Mitch Sheley led off with a double and came around to score on a double by Maestas. Neil Rohrer then drew a walk, after Maestas had stolen third, and continued toward second. On the throw to second, Maestas broke for the plate and scored, with Rohrer ending up at third. Rohrer then scored on a single by Jaron Harnacke.

[to top of second column in this article]

On Saturday, Miles Musick had the only Lincoln hit in the 3-1 loss to Carlinville. Musick singled in the fourth to score Olson, who had reached on an error and stole second. Maestas was the losing pitcher for Lincoln, allowing just three hits while striking out six and walking five. One of the two runs was allowed. Paul Phillips pitched the final inning for Lincoln and allowed one unearned run.

In the game against Taylorville, Lincoln was shut down the first three innings before scoring seven times in the last three frames. Taylorville led 8-0 before Lincoln got on the board. Chance Berger was the starting and losing pitcher for Lincoln, while Trent Kavelman hurled the final 3 1/3 innings.

Kyle Atteberry had a pair of hits to lead a nine-hit Lincoln attack. Sheley, Olson, Williams, Maestas, Musick, Berger and Kavelman each had one hit.

Lincoln travels to Urbana for a doubleheader Monday and will play its first home games of the season Tuesday against Decatur at 6 p.m. at Lindstrom Field.

[Bill Martinie]

Bronco results

[JUNE 3, 2002] Waterstreet Catering defeated Battery Specialists 9-4 in a combined one-hitter on Friday.

Brock Heidbreder pitched five innings with 12 strikeouts and no hits. He also had a double, triple and five RBIs.

Kody Swarts closed out the game with two innings pitched, one hit and one strikeout. He also had a double, a single and two runs scored.

Tyson Smith was 2-for-3 with an RBI.

[Provided by T.J. Swarts]

Pony baseball results

[MAY 31, 2002] In a closely fought ballgame in the Pony League Thursday evening, the Dodgers’ Mason Coons drove home the winning run in the bottom of the seventh to defeat the Phillies 4-3.

The Phillies duo of David Williams and Justin Mason combined to throw a four-hitter, only to be outdone by the brilliant pitching of Aaron Altman for the Dodgers. Altman threw a one-hit complete game, registering 19 strikeouts.

[Provided by Jim Stone]

Lincoln plays tough but receives
tough loss in sectional playoffs

[MAY 31, 2002] Thursday night the Lincoln varsity baseball team had another shot at the defending AA state champions, Bradley-Bourbonnais. Early in the year, the Railers lost 6-7 to Bradley-Bourbonnais in the first game of a doubleheader, although they were ahead by two runs going to the seventh inning. Especially with the way the senior-led Railers have played recently (winning nine of their last 12 games), most people rightly believed that they had what it takes to make it even further in the state tournament. (It’s been 11 years since the Railers got this far in the tournament.)

[Photos provided by Rich Knopp]
[Illinois Wesleyan provided a beautiful setting for the sectional game.]

The game was played the way you’d expect top caliber-state teams to play: strong pitching, solid defense, and aggressive hitting and base running. The downside for the Railers is that Bradley did them all just a little better and handed Lincoln a season-ending 4-1 defeat.

Lincoln senior Matt Boyer went the full game on the mound, walking three, striking out two and granting six hits. The first Bradley run came in the first inning, after a walk and an RBI triple by Dan Haley to the right-field fence. Haley also scored in the first on a wild pitch. As it turned out, the two-run inning would have been all that Bradley needed for the win. But Boyer pitched the next three innings without a score and, with a Railer run in the fourth inning, kept Lincoln within one run.

Bradley’s fifth inning, however, included another opposite-field hard-hit ball by Haley. Haley sliced one down the right-field line that had the Lincoln fans praying for a foul ball. But the ball stayed fair and the two-run homer put Bradley up 4-1.

Lincoln had only four hits in the game but hit the ball hard a number of other times. They didn’t seem to get on track until the fourth inning, sending only nine hitters to the plate in the first three innings. In Lincoln’s fourth, Jeremy Ohmart led off with a walk and a stolen base. Sophomore Mitch Sheley moved him to third on a grounder to short. And senior Andy Knopp lined a one-out single to right field to bring in Lincoln’s only run of the game. Senior Ryan Williams followed Knopp with another single, but both were stranded on base in the inning.

One of the more significant plays of the game came in Lincoln’s fifth inning. With one out, junior Ryne Komnick drew a walk, and pinch runner Josh Gallagher was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Michael Martin. Ohmart then picked up his second walk of the game to put runners at first and second with two outs. All-conference performer Mitch Sheley, who has an over .400 batting average with runners in scoring position this season, was at the plate. With a 2-2 count, speedster Gallagher was given the green light to steal third, but the throw beat him, the tag was made and the inning ended.

[to top of second column in this article]

Lincoln’s sixth inning tested Bradley’s center fielder, Tyler Grace, who had all three put-outs in that inning. One of them was a blast off Knopp’s bat to dead-center field that, after several turns by Grace, was finally hauled in at the base of the 380-foot fence. In that inning Grace also chased down fly balls by Mitch Sheley and Ryan Williams.

A base hit by Blake Schoonover in Lincoln’s seventh provided a little spark to the Railers, who were down 4-1 at that point. But Schoonover was unable to get beyond first.

Several Railers performed particularly well during Lincoln’s three IHSA tournament games. Andy Knopp, who is headed to Division I Western Illinois University, batted .625 for the tournament, with five hits (including a home run) and six RBIs. Jeremy Ohmart hit .429; and Blake Schoonover, who’s headed to Kankakee Community College to play baseball, and Mitch Sheley both hit at a .333 pace for the state tournament games. Michael Martin, who’s headed to Springfield College to play baseball, played a solid right field for the Railers.

[Ten Railer seniors will move on next year. (From R to L): Ryan Williams, Michael Martin, Adam Schonauer, Danny Schick, Jeremy Ohmart, Matt Boyer, Blake Schoonover, Michael Aper, Brian Boyer and Andy Knopp]

It was a down-and-up season for the Railers. At one point they were 10-13, but they finished at 18-16 and placed third in the Central State Eight Conference. Four Railers earned all-conference honors: sophomore Mitch Sheley and seniors Matt Boyer, Blake Schoonover and Andy Knopp. Schoonover was also named to a Springfield area all-star squad as a pitcher.

Head coach Pat Hake, in his second year at the helm of the Railers, and assistant coach Brad Shaw are to be congratulated for taking the Railers further in postseason play than they’ve been for over a decade. The coaches have had a great group of guys to work with, and they all pulled it together at the right time.

Thanks, Railers, for a great season. And thanks for putting Lincoln baseball back on the state map.

[Rich Knopp]

Stats:

LC volleyball recruit

[MAY 31, 2002] Lincoln College has announced the signing of a letter of intent from Jessica Livezey to play volleyball next season for coach Mark Tippett. Livezey, a graduate of Chenoa High School, was a four-year letter-winner and captain of the volleyball team.

Livezey was named to the all-conference team three years in a row and was selected for honorable mention as a Pantagraph scholar-athlete. She is a versatile middle and outside hitter. Livezey plans to purse a degree in nursing at Lincoln College.

"I am very pleased Jessica chose LC to begin her college career," coach Tippett said. "She is an aggressive player and a team leader. I am confident she will help us offensively as both an outside hitter and a middle blocker."

[Bill Martinie, Lincoln College
sports information director]

Pony baseball results

[MAY 30, 2002] The opening baseball game for the Lincoln Rec Center’s Pony Division season was on May 28, pitting the Row Motor Athletics versus the Knights of Columbus Phillies. The Phillies won the game 10-0 in seven innings.

The pitching for the Phillies was led by Justin Mason, Seth Laurence and Brian Willmert. They combined for 11 strikeouts, allowed only two walks and surrendered only two singles, by John Eigenbrod. Offensively the Phillies were led by Troy Tolin with a double and a single, and singles were recorded by Jeremy Moore and Joey Heidbreder.

The pitchers for the Athletics combined for a total of 13 strikeouts.

[Provided by Duane Moore]

Athlete of the week

By Jeff Mayfield

[JUNE 3, 2002] ...Goes to former Railer Jon Barton. Jon distinguished himself and Lincoln, Ill., by graduating from West Point on Saturday and shaking hands with the president. I had the distinct privilege of being in attendance for the august ceremony and overheard the charge that President Bush presented to the new group of second lieutenants. It was an awe-inspiring event.

The LDN sports desk is always open to hearing graduation stories from other proud friends and or family members. And if you’ve got any photos, send them along to us as well. Have you ever noticed how well our Lincoln kids do on the college stage and on the national scene? I couldn’t be prouder of Jon and all of our Lincoln graduates! Same thing goes for all junior high, high school and every other graduate in Lincoln and Logan County. Nice going, everybody. You’re all making me wish that I was back in school!

Teams of the week

This one is a no-brainer. In addition to our own Lincoln Railers winning the regional title for the first time since 1991, Olympia High School won both the Class A softball crown and the Class A baseball championship. Talk about a rare double?! That marks the first time that feat has been accomplished on the smaller-school level. Thorton pulled it off on the AA level several years ago. At any rate, congrats to all three of these stellar teams!

Writers of the week

My personal thanks to Rick Hobler, Rich Knopp, Bill Martinie and anyone else who has been submitting stories and photos covering the athletes of Lincoln and Logan County. There is no way that the LDN could ever cover the plethora of games and contests that people like Rich, Bill and Rick help us report on. Not only that, but more times than not, their stuff is a lot better than ours! We have gone on record that we welcome your input, and these three men always deliver. My heartfelt thanks to the three of you! Keep up the good work!

[to top of second column in this article]

Summer help

We really need your help this summer. We know that many of you are participating in sports like swimming, golf, track and field, tennis, baseball and a host of others. Please get word to us of your scores and statistics. Every month we try to improve our reporting skills, and the only way that can happen is if you let us know how you and your team are performing.

Lakers and Nets to the finals

Did you really think that the Kings would eliminate the world champion Lakers? I didn’t… and I said so a few weeks ago right here in this column. Barring injury or record shooting by a road New Jersey Nets team, the Lakers will win it all again.

Cubs on a roll, Cards spinnin’ their wheels

Every time I look up the Cubs start lookin’ better and the Cards keep stubbin’ their toe! I really like Matt Clement as a new Cubs ace. However, I’m starting to get concerned about Matt Morris’ outings. On the highlights he just looked really tired to me, and it’s only June!

I think I speak for the whole platoon

...when I say that it’s so hot we should just work from inside the confines of the pool! I think we will all be more productive in a cooled-off state. If any of you are running for a political office and this plan is part of your platform, please let me know, because you just got another vote! Have a great week, everybody!

[Jeff Mayfield]

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