Blackford High School - Reflections Yearbook (Hartford City, IN)

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Big wins climax season The Baseball Bruins began the season of ' 78 with a trip to Tennessee to get practice in the sun after a cold spring in Indiana. The team lost their opener to Muncie South and then beat Bluffton both games of a double header. They next lost a double header to New Castle and dropped a game to state- rated Munice Central. The Bruins next won one over Marion, before losinjg to Eastbrook. They dropped two to Dekalb before beating Norwell 10-3 and Madison-Grant 1-0. The squad lost to Elwood for their only defeat in the CIC and also to Madison Heights before beating Peru and Jay County. Next loss was to Huntington, 3-2, but the Bruins came back to win their last two games of the regular season against Alexandria and Tipton. Despite the loss to Elwood, the Bruins were declared the eventual Central Indiana Conference champions. Gary Lannoy was the leading pitcher, had the most stolen bases, and was second in batting, averaging 341. Greg Jones was the batting leader with an average of 347, while Jeff Nickols was second in stolen bases with 11. VARSITY BASEBALL TEAM: (Bottom Row) Jeff Nickols, Dan Young, Gary Lannoy, Jeff Moore, Kevin White, Pat Parl(er, Gary Langdon. (Row 2) Manager Mat Daniel, Audley Smith, Joe Leeth, Larry Lannoy, Eric Lang- don, Jim Horsley, Nick Jones, Brian Lanham. (Row 3) Asst. Coach Gary Cheesman, Todd Boise, Greg Jones, Mike Buckner, Gregg Glancy, Coach Craig Moore. Second In the stolen-base department, Jeff Nickols takes his lead at first. Coach Gary Chees- man advises the second-baseman. Safe at second, Gary Lannoy steals another base. Gary was the leading thief, with 14 stolen bases during the season. Varsity Baseball 111

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Although Gary Lannoy was probably called out on this play, Gary led the Bruin batters with a 341 batting average. While Jim Horsley pitched, sophomore Nick Jones gained experience behind the plate. Jones tags an Elwood runner for an out. VARSITY BASEBALL RECORD BHS OPP. 3 Muncie South 4 3-2 Bluffton 1-0 2-1 New Castle 4-2 Muncie Central 3 5 Marion 2 3 Eastbrook 4 1-2 Dekalb 3-3 10 Norweil 3 1 Madison-Grant 6 Elwood 8 Madison-Heights 5 Peru 4 4 11 Jay County 2 Huntington 7 Alexandria 4 3 (Blackford Invitational) 7 Brown County 8 Northrop 11 Tipton (Sectional) 3 Jay County 9 Bluffton 1 2 1 1 (Regional) 12 Elwood 2 5 Bellmont 4 (Semi-State) 6 Pendleton Heights 4 Columbus East 2 (State) 6 LaPorte 3 1 Evansville 7 During the season, Bruin batglrls do chores such as scorekeeping and announcing. Here Kel- ly Kouns hands a player a bat. The Bruins watch expectantly while their batter takes a swing at the ball. The Bruins rallied to earn a season record of 11-10. Speaking to Greg Glancy about his pitching is Jim Horsley. Glancy assumed much of the mound duty late in the season. no Varsity Baseball

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There was little thrill for the Bruins to lose the State title for the second year straight. Here they get their runner-up medals. ' Almost gold ' twice in row After a long season with a rough start, the Bruins settled down and began to play ball when tourney time rolled around. The bats came alive and the errors were few and far between as Mr. Craig Moore coached the team to second best in the state. In the Sectional it took the Bruins 11 innings to beat the Patriots 3-1. Then they easily beat Bluffton 9-1. In the first game of the Regional, the Bruins topped El- wood 12-2, and in the evening game met a tough-hitting Bellmont team, but outlasted them 5-4. Of two impressive wins in the Semi-State, the first was over Pendleton Heights 6-2. The Bruins then blanked Co- lumbus East, 4-0, and were again on their way to Busch S tadium and the State finals for the second consecutive year. In the afternoon game of the finals, the Bruins pulled out a 6-3 victory over LaPorte to advance to the final game of the State tourney, with some fine hitting and a homerun by Jeff Nickols. The Bruins started out in the final game against Evansville Memorial with a triple from Nickols and a lone run. But that was all the Bruins could muster as the undefeated Evansville team defeated the Bruins 7-1. Thus a so-so season climaxed with getting as close to the State Championship as possible without winning it. There was one big consolation for the heartbreaking loss — the Mental Attitude Award went to Bruin Brian Lanham. TOP: The Bruins ' winning pitcher, Gary Lannoy, did most of the hurling in the tourney games. BOTTOM: Jeff Nickols is congratulated by Manager Matt Daniel after hitting a home run over the 350-foot wall at State. A, TOP: Receiving the Mental Attitude Award Is Brian Lanham, who drew wide applause for the Bruin outfielder. BOTTOM: Craig Moore, who twice coached the Bruins to state finals, once again had to settle for second. 112 Baseball Tournaments