Local News - April 2003

Mustangs baseball, softball both win

RITCH HALLMAN, TN Correspondent

CHARLOTTE — David Rue pitched seven strong innings and drove in three runs to help his own cause as East Lincoln baseball team beat Vance 8-5 in the first day of the Jack Sink Easter Baseball Tournament at Myers Park High School.

After Vance opened the game with a run in the first, the Mustangs answered with four runs on four hits in the top of the second.

Kyle Burgin drove in the first run for the Mustangs with a RBI single. Then Vance pitcher Kyle Breece balked home the second run of the inning. The Vance second baseman mishandled a grounder by Rue’s grounder that allowed both Greyson Schram and Josh Hamby to score.

The Mustangs struck again in the top of the third with a little two-out magic.

After Kyle Burgin and Michael Rue both walked, David Rue drove them both home with a two-run double to increase the lead to 6-1. Breece’s second balk of the game forced in David Rue later in the inning.

In the top of the fifth inning David Rue drove in Michael Rue after he doubled and advanced to third on a wild pitch to make the score 8-1.

The score stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh when Vance put a rally together scoring four runs.

An error allowed the Cougars to put some runs together, but Rue got Logan Thrasher to ground out to the second baseman to end the game.

David Rue said his accuracy on the mound and his teammates behind him made it happen.

“I kept my pitch count down and threw strikes and we were able to make good plays in the field,” said Rue. It helped scoring early and getting them down.”

East coach Bruce Bolick liked his team’s early offensive production.

“We played pretty well early. It’s kind of hard to play sharp when you miss an entire week of practice due to rain,” said Bolick.

Shortstop Josh Hamby had two hits and an RBI for the Mustangs.

“We played (well),” said Hamby. “We got a little sloppy near the end but we’re starting to hit a lot better.

“We are going to be pretty good coming down to the end of the season if we play like we did today.” He said.

The Mustangs (10-3) will finish up the three-day tournament with a game today at 4 p.m. against North Meck and Thursday at 10 a.m. against Hopewell.

The format of the tournament has Bolick planning ahead for his team. He will pitch Patrick Benfield in Wednesday’s game and Michael Rue on Thursday.

“When you play three games in a row it really puts a strain on your pitching staff,” said Bolick.

Lady Mustangs rally to win

DENVER — After a week off due to rain and soggy conditions, East Lincoln softball returned to the field Monday afternoon.

The layoff didn’t stop the Lady Mustangs’ winning ways.

In the bottom of seventh, Brooke Michael singled in Stephanie Horne to give East a dramatic 3-2 win over South Point.

The win gives the seventh-ranked Lady Mustangs (10-1) a 6-0 record after the first round of games in the Big South Conference.

East scored first in the bottom of the third inning when second baseman Amanda Goodson singled in Michael.

After the South Point went up 2-1, East tied it in the fifth when catcher Nicole Shoemaker singled in a run.

For East, Nicole Hall got the win after coming in the fifth. She held South Point to only one hit, had three strike outs and no walks in two innings.

© 2001 Lincoln Times-News  

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