DATE: Tuesday, April 8, 1997                TAG: 9704080552

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C7   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Athlete of the Week

SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   40 lines

KEITH CAPACCIO: WHAM, BAM, ANOTHER GRAND SLAM FOR GREEN RUN SLUGGER

Green Run's Keith Capaccio says the next time he bats with the bases loaded he won't think grand slam.

``I'll just think, `Base hit,' '' he said. ``The home runs will come.''

That's easy for him to say.

Capaccio slugged two grand slams and a bases-empty home run in last week's Greenbrier Christian Invitational. The three home runs came in consecutive games and were the first of his varsity career.

``I think it's going to be a good year,'' he said.

Capaccio, who plays third base, pitcher and catcher, hit his first grand slam in a 9-2 rout of Benedictine.

``They had just brought in a new pitcher and he threw a fastball down the middle,'' Capaccio said.

The blow cleared not only the fence in left, but a second fence separating the grounds from the parking lot.

The most dramatic of his three home runs came the next day. Green Run and Norview were tied 8-8 with two out in the top of the seventh when Capaccio turned around a 1-1 fastball and sent it over the centerfield fence for a game-winning grand slam.

``I watched it go,'' he said. ``The whole team went wild.''

The date just happened to be April 1 and when Capaccio's dad, Steve, called home to find out what happened he accused his daughter, Stephanie, of playing an April Fool's joke when she said Keith had hit another grand slam.

The celebration was muted two days later when Capaccio connected off of Greenbrier's Thomas Ott in a 5-1 defeat. The streak ended the following day when he went 1 for 2 off Lake Taylor's Robby Hale in 7-1 setback.

Capaccio (6-foot, 190) credits an off-season of weightlifting for turning his warning track power into parking lot power.

``I've earned some respect now,'' he said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

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