By Chris Dukes

Correspondent

The Leander baseball team found a good measuring stick for where they are as a team when it traveled to the Arlington High School Invitational Tournament.
“We went 3-3 overall and played some quality ballclubs,” coach Terry King said. “Overall, we didn’t have any bad games offensively, and that is always good to see this early in the season.”
Day one saw the Lions first drop a 12-1 decision to Plano East, but bounced back to defeat host Arlington Martin in a 7-4 game.
On the second day of the tournament, the Lions ran into Colleyville Heritage and Rice-bound pitcher Austin Kubitza.
“Even though the final score was 10-0,” King said, “we did a good job staying with them for the most part. Collin (Chapman) pitched an excellent game against them.”
Chapman held the Colleyville lineup to just two runs through six innings. Upon his exit in the sixth inning, Heritage piled on eight runs for the final score.
The Lions found their bats again in the following two games, picking up a 7-6 win over Grapevine and a 13-8 victory over Arlington before falling in an 11-8 contest against Tyler Lee.
“Michael Reed did a great job pitching (against Grapevine),” King said. “He controlled his pitches, mixed things up and kept their hitters off balance.”
King is pleased with the one-two punch of Chapman and Reed on the mound, but would like to develop a little more depth.
“We are really still looking for our No. 3, 4, and 5 guys,” King said.
As the Lions prepare for another upcoming tournament at Westwood High School this weekend, defense will be at the top of the list at practice.
“We will work hard to get better at our bunt coverages and pickoffs,” King said. “We struggled with some of that and it hurt us last weekend.”
The teams attending the Westwood Tournament will look a bit familiar to Leander.
The Lions have already faced off against Colleyville Heritage and Arlington Martin earlier this season, while they will see Dobie, Coppell and Midland Lee for the first time this season.