NEL plays host to Class 4A playoffs

By By Robby Atkinson / staff writer
April 23, 2004
The Northeast Lauderdale Trojans will be looking to hold off the mighty bats of Vancleave in the first round of the Class 4A tournament to be held at Glynn-Frazier Field today.
D'Iberville and Florence open the four-team, double-elimination tournament at 4 p.m., while Northeast Lauderdale and Vancleave meet at 7 p.m.
The Trojans enter the Class 4A playoffs with an 18-8 record as head coach Steve Nelson looks for a great weekend of playoff baseball.
"We know that it will be a tough weekend and we are going head-to-head against some good teams," said Nelson. "We need to come out early and play well to stay alive."
Northeast Lauderdale will take to the field against the Vancleave Bulldogs who have been a thorn in the side of most teams this season. Vancleave ended the season with a 20-10 record and Nelson thinks the Bulldogs have one of the better offenses in the state.
"They have a couple of guys in the middle of the lineup that can really swing the bat well. We will be looking to keep those bats quiet and try to take an early lead."
The Trojans will send junior right-hander Cory Chance to the mound to start game one and Chance has been more than the ace this season for Northeast Lauderdale. Chance ended the regular season with an 8-2 record with a 1.74 ERA, while collecting 95 strikeouts in 60 innings of work.
Chance was the winning pitcher in a key 6-5 win over West Jones to clinch a playoff berth for the Trojans just one short week ago. Chance is among the team leaders in many offensive categories.
" If he (Chance) is in command of most of his pitches he can be very tough. If we can get him a lead then that will give him some confidence later in the game."
Northeast Lauderdale is led at the plate by not only Chance, but senior catcher Chad Brunson. Brunson is among the team leaders in batting average and RBIs. Brunson had is best game of the season in a 10-0 win over Lake. Brunson had a home run, triple, and double, to go along with five RBIs in the game.
"We have done a good job at scoring runs at times this season," added Nelson. "We hope that it doesn't get into a slugfest because we know that they can swing the bats."
Vancleave has based most of its success in 2004 with offense and three hitters in the Bulldogs lineup are hitting close to .400. Senior Ronnie Wihert leads the team with a .390 batting average and Wihert takes up the catching duties for Vancleave. The Bulldogs have made the playoffs 12 times in the last 14 seasons.
"We scored a lot more runs this season than we thought we would," said Vancleave head coach Hayden Cox. "We had a great year and we are going up against a great team in Northeast Lauderdale."
Junior shortstop Ty Summerlin is second on the team in batting average with a .387 average and outfielder Walter Pennington sports a .375 average for the Bulldogs.
"We are expecting them to do everything they can to win that first game," added Cox. "We will be facing their number one pitcher and we expect him to be on his best game."
Left-hander Drew Holmes will take to the mound in game one for Vancleave and enters the playoffs with a 5-3 record.
"We are not as deep as we would like in the pitching department and we have had to rely on a lot of younger guys to get the job done for us this season," said Cox.
In the first game of the day beginning at 4 p.m. will feature Florence against D'Iberville. D'Iberville enters the tournament with a 20-9 record and have a pair of outstanding starting pitchers. Junior Glendell Madden will draw the start in game one for the Warriors after posting a 7-3 record and a 2.10 ERA.
Matt Hill will take the start in game two for D'Iberville after recording a team-low ERA of 1.33 and collecting 95 strikeouts. Hill has signed to play next season at Mississippi Gulf Coast. Jake Oiler leads the Warriors with a .465 batting average, to go along with 20 RBIs. Matt Magee led the team in the RBI category during the regular season with 32.
Florence was led at the plate this season by sophomore shortstop Chris Godfrey and the Eagles are loaded with seniors. Team-captain Patrick Finnegan will see action in the outfield for Florence and catcher Jonathan Patterson is second on the team in batting average behind Godfrey.
Terrance Griffith will draw the start in game one after recording an 8-1 record for the Eagles during the regular season.