My third baseball article

Lambert ends Cherokee's resurgent season

• By Chris Drummond Tribune Sports Correspondent

• May 6, 2021

CANTON — Lambert scored runs in each of the first two innings in Game 2 of its second-round Class AAAAAAA state playoff series against Cherokee on Wednesday and made it hold up.

The Longhorns won 2-1, and paired with a 7-3 victory in Game 1, eliminated the Warriors to advance to the state quarterfinals next week against Lowndes.

“Hats off to coach (Rick) Howard and that Lambert group,” Cherokee coach Josh Thomas said. “We knew they were well-coached, and they kind of shocked us today. I’m proud of my team and how far we have come. We’re disappointed in the result, but we should be proud of what we accomplished. We will miss a lot of senior leadership on this team, but I am hoping, next year, that leadership rubs off on some of the other guys.”

The loss brought a special season to a close for Cherokee, which finished with a 22-14 record and hosted two playoff series — something the Warriors had not done in at least two decades.

Trailing 2-0 in Game 2, Cherokee answered with an RBI double by Landon Luster to trim the deficit to 2-1.

Reliever Ed Manke came in and pitched four shutout innings to keep the game close, but Cherokee could not find the equalizer.

“He’s been consistent for us all year long,” Thomas said of Manke. “He’s a hard worker, tremendous teammate, because he cares, and that young man will get an opportunity to go play college ball somewhere for sure.”

In Game 1, Justin Haskins drove in two runs on a double to give Lambert an early 2-0 lead.

Cherokee struggled at the plate as it only mustered up one hit through five innings of play.

By that time, Lambert had stretched the lead out to 6-0, thanks to a four-run fourth inning that included a home run by Colin Linder.

Max Eicheberger started on the mound for Cherokee, striking out nine batters and driving in a pair of runs from the plate