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Baseball: Audubon's Horan wins 500th

Rich Horan remembers his first win as Audubon's baseball coach.

It was April of 1992. And the new coach handed the baseball to a pretty good pitcher.

"Brett Laxton, throwing 92-93 mph," Horan said. "We beat Collinswood 3-0 or 4-0. I looked pretty smart that day."

And while there haven't been many pitchers who passed through like the right-handed Laxton, who would go on to lead LSU to the national championship as a freshman, there have been a steady succession of hard-nosed baseball players in green-and-gold uniforms.

The last group snuck up behind their veteran coach and poured cold water on him in celebration of Horan's 500th career victory on Thursday night at West Deptford.

"One-two-three -- Horan," the players shouted after their 11-3 victory over the Eagles in a Colonial Conference Liberty Division game.

Horan has a 500-191-3 record in his 26th season. His teams have won seven state titles -- and the old coach has his eyes on another one.

"Now we can turn our attention to bigger and better things -- the Diamond (Classic) and the state playoffs," Horan said after Audubon, the No. 8 team in the Inquirer Top 25, improved to 18-2.

It was a special night at Union Field, where a couple hundred of Audubon fans filled the visiting bleachers.

Fittingly, West Deptford coach is John Oehler, a former star catcher at Audubon under Horan.

"He earned every one," Oehler said of Horan's 500 wins.

Audubon got a complete-game pitching performance from senior right-handed Andrew Fehr and two hits, including a two-run homer, and three RBIs from senior first baseman Austin Rampolla.

"This is something I'll remember the rest of my life," Rampolla said. "Its just so special to play for him. He took me in like a son. Ever since I was in Mt. Ephraim Little League, I couldn't want to play for coach Horan."

Fehr said he had "goosebumps" taking the mound for a game of such significance.

"I wanted so bad to get him this win," Fehr said.

An Audubon graduate who played at St. Joseph University, Horan is the sixth coach in South Jersey history to win 500 games. But he's the first to win all 500 at his alma mater.

Audubon senior Dan Wilson said Horan and his coaches have created a "culture" of Audubon baseball.

"It's hard-nosed, competitive baseball," Wilson said. "We're going to play hard ball. That's what we do."

Horan was greeted by family, friends and and former players after the game.

"I've got a great coaching staff -- they back me all the way," Horan said. "And the kids, I'm so proud of the way they went after this challenge. I'm not sure they knew coming into the season that I needed 18 but once we got close, they really went after it."

Audubon 030 710 0 -- 11 11 1

West Deptford 010 110 0 -- 3 5 3

WP: Andrew Fehr. LP: Gabe Finocchi.

2B: WD-Kyle Garrison.

HR: A-Austin Rampolla. WD-Kyle Garrison.

-- Contact Phil Anastasia at panastasia@phillynews.com

-- Follow @PhilAnastasia on Twitter

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