La Grange/Lorena

[cdlvj]

Any Updates????

[XMan]

Ballgame!!!!!!!! Bailey strikes out last hitter to end game, LG 3, Lorena 2.

[j_dog]

Congratulations La Grange! :)

[SintonFan]

Congratulations to La Grange! You guys took out the defending champs. Good job!

[PhiI C]

Great Job by La Grange! Did they walk Hornung by the way?

[Old Tiger]

helluva job la grange how did bailey do besides that last better?

[JasperDog94]

Wow!

[Pudlugger]

This was a real exciting game. Both teams played error free baseball. For LG 7 hits 3 runs and no errrors for Lorena 6 hits 2 runs and no errors. It was 3-2 top of the 7th with Bailey on the mound to preserve the win. The lead off batter crowded the plate hoping Homer would hit him. Bailey threw a fast ball that just cleared the top of his helmet and Shramm the catcher dropped it. The Lorena coach got hot about Homer "trying to hit there guy" who again stepped into the plate out of the box for the next pitch, a fastball low to the inside which the hitter ever so cleverly stepped into taking the hit and first base. After several interuptions with time outs and stepping in and out of the batters box the next three hiiters struck out with 9 strikes in a row. Homer was not rattled by this little Kabuki dance I guess and game over. Congratulations to the La Grange Leps and to a fine Lorena team. They had great hitters and made several fine defensive plays including a diving catch at the left field fence to prevent a sure triple by Anderle.

[Pudlugger]

La Grange, Bailey beat Lorena in baseball
Lorena gets good cuts at Leopard ace but he blows by them in end

By Matthew Obernauer

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Saturday, May 29, 2004

GEORGETOWN -- The Homer Bailey baseball road show and carnival came to Georgetown on Friday night, and the La Grange ace and his No. 1-ranked team didn't disappoint, knocking off defending Class 3A state champion Lorena in a thrilling 3-2 victory.

Eight of Bailey's last 10 outs came by strikeout, and while he gave up two earned runs for the first time all season, his performance down the stretch was as much a testament to his grit as to his dominant stuff.

Clinging to a one-run lead with two men on and no outs in the sixth inning, Bailey forced a popup and a fielder's choice. With the tying run on third base and a 3-2 count, Bailey blew a 95-mile per hour fastball past Zach Erwin to retire the side.

In the seventh, tempers flared on both sides when Bailey hit Lorena's Brandon Ernzen on the arm with a fastball.

"I have to throw inside, I always will," Bailey said. "(Ernzen's) leaning out over the plate and the umpire tells my catcher to throw outside. I won't do it."

Ernzen finished the game on first base, as Bailey, suitably enraged, ended the game by striking out the side on nine pitches.

"It's Homer's plate," La Grange catcher Lance Schramm said. "'Ain't no doubt."

La Grange grabbed the deciding run in the fourth inning when No. 9 hitter Bryan Minzenmeyer launched an 0-2 fastball off Lorena pitcher Adam Hornung for a double to the left-field wall, scoring Jacob Kozelsky.

"I was looking for a curveball, but he came inside with a fastball and I just turned on it," Minzenmeyer said.

A crowd of well more than 1,000 spectators from around Central Texas filled Eagles Field to overflowing to see Bailey, a likely first-round pick in the upcoming Major League Baseball amateur free-agent draft. Around 20 scouts filled three rows behind the plate, and when the La Grange right-hander made his first pitch, the line to enter the stadium snaked out to the parking lot.

La Grange scored two runs in the first inning. Schramm laced a 3-2 pitch to the right-field wall for an RBI triple and scored one batter later on Colter Zoch's opposite-field single.

Lorena put good swings on Bailey from the outset, and the La Grange hurler struggled early, throwing 23 pitches in the first inning.

In the fourth, Lorena put its first run on the board when Hornung hit a leadoff triple and scored on a groundout.

Brandon Defrees knocked in Jake Mitchell in the sixth for Lorena's only other run. But after Defrees recorded his RBI, Bailey did not allow another hit.

"This was probably the most intense (atmosphere) this year," Bailey said. "Both sides were yelling. It really magnified the game.

"My adrenaline was raised."

mobernauer@statesman.com; 445-3959

[La Grange]

This was a great game, and I am glad to see the Leps come out on top. Earlier I posted that I would pick the Leps to win 3-2, I am not trying to brag but...:D .

This was an outstanding Lorena team that could hit the ball very well. Yall were all right about Hornug, when he hit that triple my heart droped alittle and I said to myself, "They were right".

The game got real heated in the top of the seventh with all the batter incident, you could basically see the batter lean in, but I am not going to say anything because I wasn't the umpire.

The coaches really should of picked a better field to play at then Georgetown. The field and the facilities were really great, but the seating was just not enough for the crowd. There were LG fans on roofs of building and standing on fences just to get a peak at the game. The LG highschool fans nicknamed "The Crew" that have loud noisemakers and really BIG mouths :D , got moved from the outfield fence, off of the roof, out from the Lorena side, and they finally found a spot to shake right behind the third base coach, and I am sure he wasn't to happy with them there :D .

This was an outstanding Lorena team, and I wish them and their fans the best of luck in the future.

[PhiI C]

I told you to walk Hornung La Grange but you didn't listen almost to your regret and sorry but fortunately you got enough runs to win. I wonder if you will listen to us next year if the two teams play! :)

[Pudlugger]

Originally posted by PhiI C
I told you to walk Hornung La Grange but you didn't listen almost to your regret and sorry but fortunately you got enough runs to win. I wonder if you will listen to us next year if the two teams play! :)

Yeah, Hornung was their big stud. He was at a 3-2 count and Homer threw a fast ball, the third in a row, and he was waiting for it. Homer needs to mix it up a little against great hitters, but I suspect he'll figure that out in AAA ball next year. The Lorena hitters got most of their hits on his fastball by swinging short. If they unloaded they usually were behind the ball. Homer showed real poise in the 7th when he pitched 9 strikes in a row to preserve the win. The Lorena team was well coached and extremly skilled in all positions. La Grange just managed to squeek it out against a formidible opponent.

[Hupernikomen]

AAA ball next year?? Boy you sure seem to have him on the fast track. Girdley was picked seventh overall from Jasper a few years back and still hasn't sniffed AAA. Any Jasper folks have the scoop on how Girdley is doing?? I noticed he hasn't pitched this year. What's up?

[j_dog]

Originally posted by Hupernikomen
AAA ball next year?? Boy you sure seem to have him on the fast track. Girdley was picked seventh overall from Jasper a few years back and still hasn't sniffed AAA. Any Jasper folks have the scoop on how Girdley is doing?? I noticed he hasn't pitched this year. What's up?
I heard that he got injured on his motorcycle! :mad: Supposedly is in rehab, but perhaps has thrown his career away. :( These young guys need to realize they may be SUPER, but they are still human!