The Orangefield Bobcats take on the Franklin Lions in a best of three series Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Lufkin HS. The winner will represent Region III in the 3A State Tournament next week.
So what do we know about Franklin? The town of about 1600 is about 35 minutes north of College Station. Which immediately brings the question…why are we playing in Lufkin? Orangefield Coach Tim Erickson said, “It was one of the few places that called us back. School is out and many places we called didn’t have any workers.”
As for the three game series in three days, Erickson said, “With the heat picking up we didn’t want to have to play a Game 3 after a Game 2 during the day.”
The Lions are on a Unfinished Business Tour. They had a good team last season but were upset in the first round by a fourth place team.
This season Franklin (31-4) completed a 14-0 district campaign in 20-3A. And like Orangefield, they’ve cruised through the first four rounds of the playoffs with an 8-1 record.
So what is their strength? “Pitching,” Erickson said. “They have a bunch of arms. You can’t celebrate if you win Game One because they have more coming. I believe Cort Lowry is their best player and pitcher and they didn’t even use him last week against Huntington.”
The Bobcats (29-8) expect to see Josh Atomanczyk on the hill as well as Cadyn Shaw. In the nine postseason games Lion pitchers have recorded 83 strikeouts. It’s also interesting to note that both Lowry and Atomanczyk play multiple positions when they don’t pitch. Atomanczyk, their leadoff hitter, catches and plays second and Lowry bats third and plays 2B and in the outfield.
Erickson said if he had to make a comparison, the Lions remind him of Lufkin Hudson and maybe a little bit of Diboll.
Like the Bobcats the Lions will run. They’ve record 29 stolen bases (16 for OF) in the playoffs although they didn’t steal much in the last two series. They’ve had 18 extra base hits in nine games with three triples and one HR by first baseman AJ Phillips.
You don’t get this far without being a good team and the Bobcats and Lions have proven that. Any team that makes it to State also has to have Lady Luck on their side and that could be the intangible that determines this great matchup.
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