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College basketball

Bates to Northern Illinois

[JULY 10, 2001]  Eugene Bates, a mainstay on the Lincoln College basketball team the past two years, has signed to play for Northern Illinois University at DeKalb. New coach Rob Judson, a former assistant at the University of Illinois, has added Bates to the fold.

At Lincoln College, Bates averaged 15.2 points per game as a sophomore, scoring 501 points in 33 games. He made 189 of 322 shots from the floor and added 123 of 208 at the foul line. B.J. McCullum, head coach of the Lynx, also got a lot from Bates in the guard position, as he contributed 121 assists and pulled down 216 rebounds.

As a freshman for coach McCullum, Bates averaged 8.4 points per game. He scored 269 points in 32 games, contributing 114 assists and pulling down 171 rebounds.   

The Lynx were 26-7 this past season and 25-7 the previous year, with Bates playing an instrumental role.

[Bill Martinie,
Lincoln College sports information director]

JV Legion baseball

Lincoln vs. Farmington

[JULY 9, 2001]  Lincoln’s JV Legion baseball team displayed the good, bad and ugly Saturday at Farmington. Lincoln finished the day with a doubleheader victory; however, it was not easy.

Lincoln took an 8-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning of the first game only to give up five unearned runs and send the game to extra innings. In the seventh, Farmington scored five times on four hits and three errors, making all of the runs unearned.

Lincoln scored three times in the top of the ninth to gain the victory. Matt Brayfield and Trent Kavelman singled to open the ninth, and after an infield out moved the runners to second and third, Ryan Purcell doubled to left center, driving in a pair of runs. Mitch Sheley followed with a single to score Purcell. Brayfield picked up the pitching victory with two shutout innings in relief of Chris Gosda.

The 11-8 victory was due to some lusty hitting by the Lincoln Cobras. Brayfield and Jason Williams led the way with three hits each. Both scored two runs, and Brayfield had two RBIs while Williams had one. Ryan Purcell, Mitch Sheley and Josh Turley each had two hits.  Purcell scored three times and had two RBIs while Sheley scored a run and drove in two. Turley had one RBI.

[to top of second column in this article]

Trent Kavelman was the biggest story in the second game, which went just three innings. The two teams had agreed to play just five innings in the second game of the twin bill; however, Lincoln scored 11 times in the first inning and seven in the second.  The game was halted after three innings due to the 10-run rule.

Kavelman hurled a perfect three innings, striking out the final batter of the game. The right-hander had plenty of support, as Sheley finished the game with four hits, four RBIs and three runs scored. Williams, Bobby Ward and Chris Matson all connected for three hits each and each scored a pair of runs.  Williams collected four RBIs, Matson two and Ward one.  Also helping the cause with two hits each were Purcell and Bryce Cunningham.

Lincoln, now 15-11 for the season, will play at home Wednesday night at 6 against the Springfield Cobras.

First game

Lincoln           002 040 103 – 11-15-6

Farmington     001 002 500 –  8-11-2

Gosda, Brayfield (W-8) & Purcell; Gilroy, Quinn (7-L) & Gonnigan.

Second game

Lincoln          (11)70 – 18-18-0

Farmington     000 – 0-0-0

Kavelman (W) & Matson; Gonnigan, Quinn (1) & Ault.

[Bill Martinie]

College wrestling

Lynx name wrestling MVPs

[JULY 9, 2001]  Lincoln College wrestling coach Dave Klemm has announced co-MVPs for the 2000-2001 wrestling season.  Selected as MVPs for the Lynx were Keith Eimer and Nathan Welsh.

Eimer, a graduate of Olympia High School, compiled a 20-12 record during the season, wrestling at 133 pounds for coach Klemm. Eimer finished as the regional runner-up in his weight class and was a national qualifier.

Welsh, a Quincy graduate, wrestled as a heavyweight and had a final record of 20-15.   Welsh placed third in the regional and was a national qualifier.

[Bill Martinie,
Lincoln College sports information director]

[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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