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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Times Advocate, 2007-07-11, Page 18THIS WEEK IN SPORTS Saddle Club Page 19 Golf Page 20 18 TIMES ADVOCATE Sports SPORTS Tips? Contact Times Advocate Tel: Pat Bolen (519) 235-1336 x113 Fax: (5 1 9) 235-0766 E-mail: sports©southhuron.com Wednesday, July 11, 2007 Bringing the heat — Ben Turner gets his fastball clocked by former professional baseball player Mike Lumley during a clinic in Exeter put on by Lumley. (photo/Pat Bolen) EXETER — "Awesome," and "it rocks" were some of the comments from some young local baseball players about a ball clinic last week put on by former major leaguer Mike Lumley. Lumley is the president and head instructor of the Lumley School of Baseball with extensive coaching and playing at all levels including six years of professional baseball with the Detroit Tigers. The clinic ran from July 2-6 with 18 players from ages six to 10 work- ing on overall skills with batting and fielding drills as well as improving agility. Lumley said the aim of the camp is to work on skills while making it fun for the players. Full cut — Raymond Delbridge gets some batting prac- tice in with Shane Barker pitching while below, Barker races to a photo finish with Jacob Hrudka as Mitchell Lumley declares the winner. (photos/Pat Bolen) season for Express EXETER — The Exeter Express have had a tough year so far after winning the OBA 'D' championship last year and the team lost three games on the weekend including both ends of a dou- ble header loss to Tillsonburg. Team spokesperson Joe Fulop said the Express has been a powerful force for several years in the OBA tournament and played on equal terms against its oppo- nents from the Southwestern Senior League. Fulop said manager Doug Fairbairn did some recruiting over the winter and had turned up five prospects who would help the team. The players talked about moving up to the 'C' division of the OBA for this season according to Fulop, and early season practices revealed a good sense of co-operation between new and old players and between the players and the manager. So what happened? Some players who were expected to play, at least part time, chose not to play or were injured. Two major players on the team left for personal rea- sons and left gaping holes which Fairbairn had to try to fill. On top of that, a sense of complacency seemed to have developed as some players began showing up late for games, Fulop said and the team was not ready to com- pete properly due to lack of warm-up time. All season long Fairbairn has had to scramble to get enough players for every game. Fulop said players talked of prior commitments and thus couldn't be at a given num- ber of games. In some cases it seems the players were keen to play unless the game was played on the weekend - or on a weekday, said Fulop. This puts a tremendous strain on Fairbairn and on the players who do show up every game ready to play. There is a core group of players who show they still have the skills and do care. As a result they have been competitive in every game but one this year. Fulop said the team still has the potential to do well in the upcoming playoffs if the com- mitment level of some play- ers improves. Otherwise the worst case scenario could see the end of the Express, Fulop said. The team lost three games on the weekend including 7-6 to Lakeside in 10 innings, and 7-5 and 4-2 to Tillsonburg. Fulop said a great deal of credit should go to those players who played some excellent baseball as they always have. He added credit should also go to some new players who stepped up just so the team would have nine players in these games. Fulop credited Fairbairn who decided to play the last game to avoid a forfeit. The heat and the activity of the game meant Fairbairn had to deal with a racing heartbeat and the inability to catch his breath even when he came off the field. "He almost sacrificed too much for his team," said Fulop. Friday's game against Lakeside was an excellent game. The Express scored three runs in the first on hits by Aaron Patterson, Nate Burns, Bobbie Grant with a walk, Lonnie Hawke and Adam Leppington. Lakeside surged ahead with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Lakeside held the lead until the eighth when the Express came back with two runs to tie things up. Again Patterson, Burns and Grant had hits. The game remained that way until Lakeside scored the winning run in the bottom of the tenth.. Rob Burk pitched the entire game and allowed five earned runs. Burk also had two hits. The remaining Express hits came from the bats of Grant with two more and Tim Eifert. The team played well and almost pulled out a victory, said Fulop. Dan Masse threw the first game against Tillsonburg and allowed seven runs on six hits. Tillsonburg led all the way but the Express pushed hard to try to close the gap. Burns led the Express bats with three hits while Patterson had two including a homerun. Grant and Hawke had two each while Masse and Jeremy Jeffrey had one each. The team played as well as they could under the circum- stances, said Fulop. Burns was the Express hurler for the final game. He and the umpire had dif- fering views about the strike- out zone. Burns lasted for three innings and gave up four hits and four runs. The Express responded with two runs on six hits from Patterson, Burns, Leppington, Terry Hogg and Jason Cox. The Express had two run- ners on base when they were forced to forfeit the game due to Fairbairn's health prob- lems and the lack of any replacements. Hopefully things will work out and the team will do well at the OBA tournament in Wallaceburg Labour Day weekend, Fulop said. 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