“I don’t have to tell you that the one constant through all the years has been baseball.” — Shoeless Joe / Field of Dreams
The Brookwood vs. Lassiter series was some of the most exciting baseball we have ever played (watched.) We all travelled over to Cobb County to face the number one team in the state hoping for a split that would force a third game. The underdog Brookwood Broncos had a lot of ups and downs throughout the season, but something magical happened in the series. The entire team played near flawless baseball and won the first game. Lassiter was stunned, and the Broncos were determined.
These photos are from the win after the first game. The scoreboard shows the Broncos dominating in hits, winning 5 to 2. They had zero errors to Lassiter’s 3 errors. Elliot pitched an amazing game. You can see Tim yelling with excitement as the team headed into the dugout to change for the next game. You can see the look of determination on Danny’s face who knew he was likely to be pitching.
The Broncos were determined to win the second game. Matt started off well with his typical unhittable movement. But the Lassiter team figured him out in inning three, and they quickly racked up 6 runs. Danny was brought in to put down a hitting addiction. The first batter knocked one out to make the score 7 to 1, but that was the end of Lassiter’s hitting. As Coach Howard would later say, “It was Light’s Out Lassiter.” Coach Albury signalled for the secret knuckle ball, and in his words: “That first one was wicked.” Lassiter just couldn’t hit Danny, and the Broncos fought back but ended up with a 7 to 5 loss.
That set up for the third game, which was no less exciting and came down to the last pitch of the last inning with Broncos on third and second threatening to win. It could have gone either way, but Lassiter’s home field luck won them the series with a 6 to 5 win. If you added up all the hits and runs for the series, Brookwood out scored, and hit, and under errored Lassiter.
Memories from the series:
Danny’s “wicked” knuckle ball made 5 appearances and could not be hit. Danny was the only pitcher to develop a knuckle ball because he could, as pitching Coach Albury explained, switch his mechanics and come back with a fast ball or curve right after the knuckle ball. Most pitchers cannot do that.
Danny had an inning-ending pick-off at third base. He saw the huge lead on his first pitch, and he hoped Coach Albury would call for the pick off. Sure enough, he did, and Danny didn’t even look over to third, knowing the kid would be leading off too far. The throw over nailed him.
Coach Albury, Danny, and a couple of the other pitchers figured out Lassiter’s signs and used it against them by yelling the batter’s name for one kind of pitch and number for another kind of pitch. Lassiter realized this after a couple of innings, so they started using two coaches to signal the pitches. I did not realize all of this was going on, but I did point out to Kathy how strange it looked to see two coaches signalling side-by-side. Danny said, “It was easy to figure out which one was the real signal because the catcher would quit looking when one stopped and the other kept signalling.”
Gwinnett Daily Post: Broncos split with Lassiter
05/13/2005
By Corey Clark
Staff Writer
MARIETTA ‘ The Brookwood Broncos didn’t play like a No. 4 seed on Thursday. And they didn’t play like a team that had lost 10 games during the regular season.
No, against perennial power Lassiter in the first round of the Class AAAAA state playoffs, the Broncos played like one of the favorites to win the state championship.
They took the first game 5-2 and if it wasn’t for a six-run, third-inning outburst by the Trojans (21-7) in Game 2 of the doubleheader, Brookwood would have swept the hosts and moved on to the second round.
Instead the Broncos (15-11), who dropped the second game 7-5, will travel back to Lassiter today for the final game of the best-of-three series at 7 p.m.
‘We’ve been up and down all year long,’ Brookwood head coach Rick Howard said. ‘We’ve played really well at times and not so well at times, and we’ve just grown up a great deal this year.
‘And there’s really not a lot to lose here. We’re a four seed and all I ask of the kids is go out there and play hard, give me everything you’ve got and let’s see what happens.’
He saw a lot of good things on Thursday.
In Game 1, the fourth-seeded and unranked Broncos showed right away they were not intimidated by the Region 6-AAAAA champs.
Anders Oster led off the game with a scorching double and Tim Lorek followed with an RBI single off Lassiter starter Don Brice, and after just two batters the Broncos led 1-0.
The bottom of the inning was where things got rough.
Brookwood starting pitcher Andy Reid walked the first four batters of the game, and after Kevin Bishop drove in a run with a sacrifice fly off sophomore reliever Elliott Coor the Trojans were up 2-1 after one inning.
But Coor was phenomenal in relief for the Broncos, going seven innings and allowing four hits and no runs in his first postseason performance.
‘You’ve got to have somebody step up big if you’re going to win a big series,’ Howard said.
Coor also benefited from some tremendous defense as Brookwood handled every chance in the field flawlessly, with third baseman Lorek and shortstop Anders Oster making some sparkling plays on the left side of the diamond.
The Broncos were equally impressive on offense, pounding out 10 hits against Brice and reliever Chris Woolen.
They tied the game in the top of the fourth when Jeff Button smoked a run-scoring double to left field, and then they pulled ahead for good in the next inning.
T.J. Pilla led off the fifth with a triple and scored on an RBI single from Chris Murray. After a single by Osters, a groundout by Lorek and an intentional walk to Clayton Cain, Wes Adkins drove in the Broncos’ fourth run with a groundout to second.
Brookwood’s final run came in the sixth when Parker Brunelle led off the frame with his second single of the game. Nick Kemp came in as a courtesy runner and promptly stole second, then advanced to third on an errant throw.
Kemp then got credit for stealing home when he took off for the plate on an apparent suicide squeeze play, but Woolen’s pitch was wild and rolled to the backstop. Kemp scored with ease and the Broncos had a three-run cushion.
Coor and the Brookwood defense made it hold up.
‘That’s huge when you have that much confidence in your game and your defense,’ Coor said.
Game 2 started off well for the Broncos too, it just didn’t end that way.
Brookwood, the home team for the second game, scored in the bottom of the first when Button drove in Cain with an RBI single to right field.
The lead lasted until the third.
With one out in the top half of the inning, Lassiter leadoff hitter Grant Youngblood hit a solo home run to left field off Brookwood starter Matt Dauphinee to tie the game at 1-1.
That’s when things went from bad to much, much worse for the Broncos as John Goodin’s three-run homer helped the Trojans to a 6-1 lead after three innings.
It was 7-1 an inning later when Youngblood, who had five hits on the day and reached base seven times, hit his second solo home run of the game off reliever Danny Cashin.
But then the Broncos began to rally.
Cain hit his ninth homer of the season, a three-run shot to dead center field, to cut the lead to 7-4 in the bottom of the fifth and chase Lassiter starter Davey Knapp from the game.
Brookwood scored again in the seventh on a double by Lorek and an error by Lassiter, but Woolen induced Adkins into a game-ending groundout to force Game 3.
Howard said he isn’t sure who he’ll start today, but neither of Brookwood’s starting pitchers on Thursday ‘ Reid or Dauphinee ‘ threw a lot of innings, so both should be available.
Lassiter will most likely go with junior Matt Kallaoun.
Gwinnett Daily Post: Lassiter eliminates Brookwood 4-3
05/14/2005
By David Friedlander
Staff Correspondent
MARIETTA ‘ As it did the entire first-round series in the Class AAAAA baseball playoff series with Lassiter, Brookwood fought back in Friday night’s third and deciding game.
The Broncos simply ran out of time. Despite putting the tying run just 90 feet away, Brookwood’s attempt to rally from a four-run deficit came up a run short as the No. 6 Trojans escaped with a 4-3 win before a large, enthusiastic crowd at the Lassiter Baseball Complex.
‘I can’t say enough about my kids,’ Brookwood head coach Rick Howard said. ‘All you ask is that they play hard, and they didn’t quit.’
The Broncos (15-13) didn’t quit despite spotting Lassiter (22-7) a 4-0 lead on Brandon May’s RBI single in the first and RBI singles by Kevin Bishop and John Goodin that capped a three-run top of the third.
However, they might look back on wasted opportunities in the first three innings against Lassiter starter Michael Palazzone (2-0).
The freshman right-hander induced an inning-ending double-play off the bat of Jeff Button with the bases loaded and one out in bottom of the first and wriggled out of similar trouble in the second and third to strand five Broncos ‘ four of which were in scoring position.
But Brookwood finally broke through in the sixth, when Lassiter center fielder Grant Youngblood slipped going after Parker Brunelle’s liner to center, which turned into an RBI double and ignited a three-run rally ‘ capped by Jordan Honegan’s RBI single and Chris Murray’s sacrifice fly ‘ that pulled the Broncos to within 4-3.
But left-hander Tyler Wilson got Anders Oster on a fielder’s choice to escape further damage, and then struck out Brunelle with Wes Adkins representing the tying run in the seventh to secure his first save of the season.
Game 3
Lassiter 4, Brookwood 3
Lassiter 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 ‘ 4 10 1
Brookwood 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 ‘ 3 7 1
WP ‘ Michael Palazzone (2-0)
LP ‘ Chase Hawkins (2-2)
Save ‘ Tyler Wilson