Sports

West Lincoln baseball has an off night but hangs on to win

From staff reports

March 29, 2002 - VALE —The West Lincoln baseball squad didn’t look like a No. 5 team in the state against Bunker Hill Wednesday.

But the Rebels did what top teams do: Win.

West Lincoln survived an off night but beat the Bears 5-3 to improve to 9-0 on the season.

“We were fortunate to get the win,” said West coach Allan Chapman. “Bunker Hill is a fine team. It’s still good to win still and not play your best.

“Hopefully, we learned some things and not had to suffer a loss in doing so. We hadn’t had much practice time lately with all the rain. We’re either playing or we’re getting rained out. We’re not as sharp as we were, so the lack of practice hurt us in that regard.”

The Bears had a big chance in the first inning to score a lot of runs. The first three batters all singled to load the bases. A walk plated one run.

But West starter Jay Heafner got out of the inning with no further damage.

The Rebels tied the game in the bottom of the first. Josh Carpenter ripped a double to drive in Heafner.

After that first inning scare, Heafner kept the Bears in check until the seventh. He allowed only one earned run and two hits in that span.

Meanwhile the Rebels took the lead after two innings, 3-2.

 After two batters walked, West got an RBI single from Heafner. West’s other run came home on a groundout by Carpenter.

West tacked on two more runs in the fourth. The highlight of the inning was David Wise’s one-run single.

West took its 5-2 lead into the seventh but that’s when Bunker Hill made things more interesting. 

The Bears got a walk and two straight singles after the second out to get a run.

However, West reliever Chris Halubka came in and struck out the next better to get the save.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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