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Railers just miss on sectional title game appearance
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By Jeff Mayfield
[JUNE 6, 2005]
It would've been nice to see what this bunch
could've done with a couple of more playoff games in their quiver.
However, Normal West ended those dreams by scoring some unearned
runs in the 10th inning of their 7-2 win over Lincoln. Lincoln had
their chances, demonstrating the grit that saw them battle teams all
year long, but in the end they just couldn't get a timely hit when
they needed one.
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The Railers did finish the season at 26-12 and captured their first
regional title since 2002. Lincoln was strong in several areas and
in other aspects relied on ingenuity to get the job done. Because of
that I felt that this was one of Lincoln coach Pat Hake's best
coaching jobs. Those who have erroneously always thought of
Lincoln as a basketball town only had to be once again impressed
with yet another Railer sport that achieved lots of accolades. The
LDN salutes the Lincoln Railer baseball team on an outstanding
season!
Cubs, Cards and Sox
While the Cards were taking two of three in Houston after
splitting a four-game set in the Rockies, the Cubbies were yet the
most recent thing to catch on fire in California. It is probably
time to wake up those Chicago fans who pronounced the Cubs dead just
two to three short weeks ago.
The Sox, on the other hand, now find themselves only 3.5 games up
on those pesky Twinkies.
A couple of other Redbird notes:
- The Cards have something like seven picks in the first two
rounds of this week's MLB draft.
- In a recent stretch, fan favorite Rick Ankiel smashed three
home runs in seven games.
NBA playoffs
Greg Taylor called this action weeks ago and should be up for
prophet status. He said it would be the Spurs versus the Pistons or
the Heat in the NBA finals. Since Miami and Detroit are deadlocked
3-3 going to the deciding seventh game, I don't think Greg's
prediction could've gotten much more accurate!
[to top of second column in this article]
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 French tennis
Justin Henin-Hardenne opened up the biggest can you've ever seen
on Mary Pierce on the clay courts of Roland Garros (wouldn't that be
a great place to stage a laundry detergent commercial?). On the
men's side, Rafael Nadal (I wonder if he's any relation to that
Chicago sportswriter?) claimed the cup.
Odds and ends
Bart Bryant not only overcame the golf course at Muirfield
Village to win the Memorial, but he also had to overtake the crowd.
How's that? They were whopping it up for longtime hero Fred Couples,
who was about a putt away from claiming the championship.
Tiger Woods finished in a group tied for third, which kept him
from reclaiming the No. 1 ranking in the golf world.
Landon Donovan led the U.S. to a 3-0 victory over Costa Rica in a
World Cup qualifier.
Packer fans are giddy that QB Brett Favre is considering
extending his NFL career.
That's it for me… Have a great week, everybody!
[Jeff Mayfield]
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