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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."

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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]

[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.).

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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]

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.

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