Thursday, August 21, 1997

Wildcatter sets single-season home run record

By AL PICKETT / Sports Editor

Chris Cassels of the Tyler Wildcatters broke the Texas-Louisiana League single-season home run record Tuesday night with two-run blast in the sixth inning of Tyler's 6-3 victory over the Lubbock Crickets in the nightcap of a doubleheader.

It was Cassels' 26th home run of the season, breaking the old mark of 25 set last year by John O'Brien of the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings.

The T-L League enters the final weekend of the 1997 season tonight with the second-half race still up in the air. The Alexandria Aces lead the second-half standings by just a half-game ahead of the first-half champion Amarillo Dillas. Tyler is two games back.

The second-half champion will face Amarillo in the league's postseason playoffs.

But if Amarillo also wins the second half, then the team with the best overall record in both halves of the season will meet the Dillas in the postseason playoffs. Alexandria and Tyler are currently tied with the second-best overall record behind Amarillo.

The Abilene Prairie Dogs face Amarillo in a season-ending four-game, three-day series beginning today at 7:05 p.m.

The T-L League batting race is also up from grabs heading into the final weekend of the season. Amarillo's Jorge Alvarez, who is no longer playing for the Dillas but has enough at-bats to qualify for the league batting title, currently leads the league with a .395 batting average, but Bryan Warner of Rio Grande Valley (.390) and Jason McClure of Abilene (.388) still have a shot at winning the batting title.

The winner of the batting race will probably break the league record of .377 set by Amarillo's Lonnie Maclin in 1995.