MINOR LEAGUE BASEBALL

The Fort Worth Cats and Shreveport Sports, two minor league baseball teams, will meet in an exhibition, or preseason, game here at Driller Park on Wednesday.

The game's first pitch is slated for 6 p.m. Tickets at the door will be $5; children under 12 and any Kilgore Boys Baseball Association players in uniform will be admitted free.

There will be promotions between innings of the game, secured for the area by the Kilgore Chamber of Commerce, and Kilgore native and former American Idol contestant Lana Phillips will sing the national anthem.

There is local interest, too, from a baseball perspective - former Kilgoreite Brandon Hagood will play second base for the Sports in the contest, and former U.S. Olympian and University of Texas standout Kip Harkrider - the brother of Kilgore High School baseball coach Tim Harkrider - will play second for Fort Worth.

Sponsors in addition to the chamber are Alcoa, Patterson Motors, New Generation Farms, Kimray, Express Personnel, Cudd Pressure, Kilgore Ford, Wilbur Yates, Citizens Bank, Oil Masters/ Rig Masters, General Dynamics/Vertex, Guaranty Bank and the Kilgore News Herald.