The Advocate-Messenger from Danville, Kentucky • 13

THE ADVOCATE MESSENGER RIDAY JUNE 6 1997 Lafayette next for Boyle County? (Continued from Page Bl) weaknesses" Jloyle would have been an underdog against any of those teams and the Rebels know it But they upset South Laurel and North Laurel in succession to win the 12th Region title and first bakeman Brian Wheeler said they will approach game like those two "Nobody expected us to win these games" he said we an is a bunch of average Joes ve got to work hard to win ballgames" Hoyle (22 13) may have to work a little hard er on offense' because two of its best pitchers be available Daniel Rail who was the winning pitcher Wednesday against South Laurel and Bart Johnson who got the win over North Laurel arc not eligible to pitch again until Sunday because of inning limitations Boyle principal Tom Brown plans to appeal to the KHSAA today to have the start of the tour nament pushed back to allow all of Boyle's pitchers to be eligible Two of the other three sectional teams will have had at least three days off by Saturday making all their pitches eligible If the appeal is denied pitching deci sion easy He said will start Scott LeMonds the only other Rebel to pitch during this postseason "1 have a decision" Leigh said If LeMonds falters Leigh would turn to one of several pitchers who were used on a part time basis during the regular season Catcher Willie Sherwood is in that group along with third baseman John Sieweke and utility man Derek Christenson an eighth grader who started in the outfield Thursday got people we can put up there" Leigh said Evans said Lafayette (33 4) will almost cer tainly save its best pitchers for sec tional final "They'll probably throw their No 3 pitcher against us" said Evans That would likely be Derrick Langfels who combined with ace Austin Kearns to no hit Richmond Model in the first round win in the 11th Region Tournament Kearns is 8 2 and entered the regional with 1 1 1 strikeouts in 64 innings while No 2 pitcher Jarrod Reynolds is 1 1 0 with 105 strikeouts in 62 innings Kearns considered the best junior prospect and a potential first round draf pick nex year struck out 13 batters as Lafayette topped Tates Creek 5 2 in the regional final on Monday He also homered in every game of the tournament and has 11 on the season first game should feature an intriguing matchup between the best team in the state and the best pitcher in the state Harrison (36 1) is ranked No 1 in the state poll and No 8 in the nation by Baseball America and has not lost to a Kentucky team this season The Thorobreds who defeatedj Lafayette for the sectional title last year whipped Pendleton County 21 2 Wednesday irr the ()th Region final Highlands (26 8) will likely send 6 6 Eric Glaser to the mound He was picked by the Boston Red Sox Tuesday in the second round of major league free agent draft The Bluebirds beat Covington Holy Cross 5 3 in th6 9th Region final on Tuesday Glaser did not pitch Rebels claim region (Continued from Page Bl) its offense in two innings off North Jon Hooker The Rebels scored one run on two hits in the first inning then took the lead in the fourth inning with two runs on four hits info we got was that the fastball was his money Leigh said lot of peo ple were able to make him work hard and throw a lot of pitches and other people were able to sit on the fastball and hit it" Senior first baseman Brian Wheeler said facing hard throwing Jeremy Brown of South Laurel the day before prepared the Boyle batters for heat concentration level raises a little bit when you face good said Wheeler who was named the tourna most valuable player after going 6 for 8 with two home runs three doubles and eight RBIs in three games I He had a pair of doubles off Hooker driving in first run with the first and scoring the go ahead run after reach ing base on the second Boyle tied the game at 2 2 when Brown hit a mammoth home run to left field to lead off the bottom of the fourth inning Wheeler followed with his second double moved to third on a wild pitch and gcored on a single by Johnson The Rebels threaten again so the rest was left to Johnson and LeMonds two guys know what they can Leigh said told go out and dowhat you do or Johnson that meansthrowing an assortment of off speed pitches with only an 'occasional fastball or JLeMonds it means a little less Tinesse and more velocity LeMonds came on after Bulls ithe road a (Continued from Page Bl) As it is the odds are heavily stacked against the Jazz who also play host to Game 4 Sunday and if necessary Game 5 next Wednesday The Bulls won their first nine best of 7 series in which they took 2 0 leads the Jazz are 0 for 5 when falling behind 0 2 The Bulls won Game 3 on the road in each of their three previous series this postsea son Their third game perfor mances at Atlanta in the sec ond round and at Miami in the third round were their best in each series And Chicago won its first road game in each of its four previous NBA inals know going to be very difficult Things will go their way a little bit more than in Bulls coach Phil Jackson said not discounting the fact that a very good road team and probably have the best road record ever in the The Bulls are 9 3 in road games in their four champi pnship series So the Jazz know that sim ply going home solve the Staff Photo by Mike Marsee AV I f' 3 Lc VP A Bp EC Boyle County first baseman Brian Wheeler catches a pop up as North Ben Miller runs by Wheeler was named MVP of the regional tournament Johnson gave up a leadoff sin gle in the sixth inning Johnson had allowed one earned run on six hits and a w'alk and chalked up five strikeouts got about as much out of Bart as we could Leigh said LeMonds faced five batters in the final two innings Only one reached base and that was on an error did great but I knew my turn would LeMonds said want to let the team came in like any good save pitcher and did a tremen dous job of keeping them Johnson added defense bailed them out of a couple of jams The Rebels who had played error less baseball through four postseason games committed three errors on Thursday but also made their share of key plays Catcher Willie Sherwood had three assists picking off two North Laurel runners and catching another in a run down Shortstop Daniel Rail taking a relay from Brown on a double threw out a runner at the plate to cut short the' third inning Even Johnson got in on the act after he moved from the mound to right field ranging into foul territory to field a fly ball for the final out got a defense like got not hard too hard to play on a team like Johnson said North Laurel (20 12) drew first blood in the first inning with one run but Boyle matched it in the bottom of the inning when Rail singled and scored from first on double to deepest center field The Jaguars regained the lead in the third thanks to two Boyle errors But Boyle took the lead for good in the fourth avenging a loss to North Laurel in last year's regional semifinals never let an opportunity go by to remind them about that" Leigh said 12th Region Tournament Championship At Somerset North Laurel 101 000 0 2 6 0 Boyle County 100 200 3 6 3 Hooker and Ryser Ba Johnson LeMonds (6) and Sherwood Ba Johnson Hooker LeMonds Miller (NL) Wheeler (BC) 2 Allen (NL) Newell (NL) Sieweke (BC) HR Brown (BC) Most Valuable Player Brian Wheeler Boyle County All Tournament Team Jeremy Brown North Laurel Neal Brown Boyle County: Justin Burns North Laurel: Derrick Coffey McCreary Central Jimmy Drakeford Harrodsburg Jon Hooker North Laurel Bryson Loudermilk McCreary Central Daniel Rail Boyle County: Matt Rodgers Danville Rocky Ryser North Laurel: Willie Sherwood Boyle County Whitney Weaver South Laurel Wheeler I We would like to have Daniel pitching Since we cant we just have to find another way to win (Continued from Page Bl) why you have to admire altitude and hope his teammates feel the same way or know a good rain dance that would delay the start until Sunday was thinking before the game what might happen when we Sherwood said would like to have Daniel pitch ing Since we we just have to find another way to win" Sherwood should know because that's exactly what he did Thursday He went hitless hut no one played a bigger role in the win than he because of these four plays: In the third inning North had runners on first and second when Sherwood caught the runner at first too far off the bag Boyle eventu ally erased the lead runner in a rundown Still in the third inning a North runner tried to score from second on a single to left center Sherwood took the throw tagged the runner and held the ball In the sixth inning Boyle was clinging to a 3 2 lead when Johnson gave up a hit to the leadoff batter and the Rebels replaced Johnson with sophomore Scott LeMonds On first pitch an attempted bunt popped into the air Sherwood caught it and threw to first to complete a double play for what might have been the most important out of the game think that really helped Scott" Sherwood said usu ally either really on or really Today he was really focused and after that one pitch he was really Wheeler misplayed a ground ball to start the seventh and put the tying North Laurel run at first base No problem i Sherwood called a pitchout and picked the runner off A strike out and routine fly ball ended the game If throw to Wheeler had been off target it could have helped move the runner to second or maybe even third base But Sherwood has no fear and never doubted he would get an out put a guy in to run who been playing and I saw what a big lead he said Sherwood who made' the all tour ney team know what he was Just like those who scheduled the sectional to start Saturday ortunately for Boyle though Sherwood and his teammates knew what they were doing They came out playing aggressive baseball and made all the fundamental plays to become region al champions No matter when they play in the sectional and if there is any justice it will rain Saturday and give Boyle a chance to throw' Rail Sunday the main focus should be that regional championship trophy one can take that trophy away from said Sherwood a starter on regional championship football team what i Sherwood Boyle complain about schedule al if lffc Al A A Utah forward Karl Malone was the center of attention Thursday Tonight he hopes to help the Jazz find a way to beat Chicago many problems that the Bulls expost'd by winning 97 85 Wednesday night worst thing to start doing is relying on said Karl Malone who has yet to do anything to show that he should have won league MVP honors over Michael Jordan fans are obviously going to be in the game but we have to come out and Larkin has new problem By Joe Kay AP Sports Writer CINCINNATI (AP) Just when Barry Larkin figured out how to deal with his sore heel he developed a new problem The Cincinnati Reds short stop was out of the lineup Thursday when the Reds beat Houston 6 5 because of neck spasms similar to the neck problem he has last season which was remedied with chi ropractic treatments saga Larkin said just spasms had them before got them again on the other side it was on the right side last year the left side this listed as day to day The neck began bothering Larkin earlier in the week during a rain shortened series in Philadelphia He had a 12 gaine hitting streak when the Reds opened a series against Houston on Wednesday night but went 0 for 2 before the neck forced him out of the game after the fifth inning was nothing else we could manager Ray Knight said had a similar problem last year This is the same deal It gets real Larkin has been bothered all Metsvs Reds WHEN WHERE 7:35 pm today Cincinnati ON THE AIR WHIR AM (1230) I PROBABLE PITCHERS Mets: Rick Reed (4 2) I Reds: Brett Tomko (0 1) season by inflammation in his left heel which has gotten bet ter in recent weeks with the help of a cortisone shot Larkin is batting 317 The Reds also placed pitcher John Smiley on the 15 day dis abled list today with a strained groin and called up Brett Tomko from Triple A Indian apolis to start tonight against the New York Mets Tomko made his major league debut in Cincinnati on May 27 and took the loss as the Phillies beat the Reds 2 1 behind Curt Schilling Thursday Cincinnati starter Pete Schourek went only five innings but got the win The left hander gave up another homer the eighth he has allowed in his last four starts change up is still not where I want it to Schourek said threw a cou ple today but they were not effective I got a couple of swings and a couple of takes need to throw my off speed pitches for 1 Schourek has been slow to regain his touch coming off elbow surgery last year He threw 91 pitches over seven innings of a 5 1 victory in Chicago last riday and Knight decided to go easy with him on Thursday his last outing and the way he threw we just felt today that he would only go fivej Knight said threw a lot of fastballs last time That was kind of a stretch out day We want to push The Reds knocked the Astrofc out of first place as backups Lenny Harris and Pokey Reese had three hits apiece Houston fell below 500 once again at 29 30 and fell a half game behind Pittsburgh a lot of baseball left especially in this said Harris who homered scorcjl twice and drove in two runs as Deion replacement done Sanders twisted his left ankle while going into second base in the first inning He got the ankle taped and played another half inning but left for rays that found no fracture gEDS Mets vs Reds WHEN WHERE ON THE AIR PROBABLE PITCHERS i.