NEWS
Lincoln
University Baseball Report
April 12, 2004
Sample
silences Williamson with dominating effort to help
Lincoln earn DH split
By
Rob Knox
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY - The Lincoln baseball team took advantage
of three Williamson Trade School errors in the second inning to a claim a 5-4
victory in the second game of a doubleheader at Lions Field last Tuesday.
The
victory helped the Lions split a doubleheader wit h the Mechanics, who won the
first game, 15-7. The win against Williamson was huge for the Lions because they
held off a late Williamson rally. Lincoln has struggled in the late innings of
games this season.
"We're playing better and we're in games longer," Lincoln
baseball coach Paul K. Johnson said. "We just need more experience and
pitching to get us over the hump late in the games. The team knew they could beat
Williamson because we had been competitive against them the last three times we
played them."
In the second game, the Lions found themselves trailing 2-0
after the top of the first. Vince Curtis got the Lions on the board on
a RBI double that scored Matt Sample. Then the Mechanics became generous
and the Lions capitalized to score four times in the second inning. The highlight
of the inning was Kelvin Rawlinson's two-run double that gave the Lions
the lead for good, 3-2. Lincoln tacked on two more runs to open a 5-2 lead. Williamson
made things interesting by scoring two runs in the top of the fourth inning, but
that would be as close as the Mechanics would get.
The Lions offense stalled
after the second inning, but it did not matter because Sample was mowing the Mechanics
down with a dazzling array of pitches. Sample struck out 11 batters and allowed
four hits. More importantly, the Lions did not commit an error in the game.
Sample
was named the Lions baseball player of the week for his effort. He has improved
as the season has progressed. Sample has lowered his ERA to 6.89. After the Lions
first game of the season, Sample had an 11.25 ERA. Sample is now 2-3 overall with
38 strikeouts in 322/3 innings and he has tossed three complete games.
"I
was really pleased with the total team effort, but when we really needed to come
through with a victory and conserve our pitching, Sample came through with a complete-game
effort and his defense and offense backed him up," Johnson said. "Our defense
played the way, I expected them to at the beginning of the season and when they
needed to get outs, they got them."
In the first game against Williamson,
Arlin Alvarez drove in three runs and Sample knocked in two runs for Lincoln.
The Mechanics overcame a 6-5 deficit by scoring three runs in the fifth inning,
two in the sixth and five in the seventh.
Lincoln dropped to 3-11 overall
by losing 17-1 to Wilkes University last Wednesday. Rawlinson's RBI double in
the fifth inning and a triple highlighted Lincoln's offense in the defeat to Wilkes.
