Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 22, 1990 TAG: 9005220390
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB TEITLEBAUM SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A little more than two hours later, Spicer was a lot more popular after the Knights had rallied to win 13-6 at Cave Spring field.
Spicer shut Potomac down while his teammates rallied to advance to GW-Danville for a semifinal game on Wednesday. The winner will earn a trip to the Group AAA Tournament next week.
The Roanoke Valley District's other entry, Patrick Henry, wasn't as lucky. The Patriots lost to Heritage 3-1 because of a couple of defensive lapses and some timely relief pitching by the Pioneers.
Cave Spring (17-4), runner-up in Group AAA a year ago, won its 13th straight game because Spicer turned his pitching around and catcher Jason St. Clair provided the most telling blows offensively. St. Clair smashed two homers, including a bases-loaded blow in the fifth that virtually locked up the game.
"I was in shock that first inning; I was that close to pulling him," said Cave Spring coach Roger White, holding two fingers an inch apart to show how close Spicer came to being taken out of the game.
"I was throwing at the corners and they were just hitting it," said Spicer, who was shelled for two homers and six hits in the nightmarish first inning. "I wanted to shut them out the rest of the way and prove that I could stop them."
The Knights started their comeback early, scoring two runs in the first.
Spicer had an anxious moment in the third when Potomac's Tim Dearing smashed a shot to the fence that Mike Fayed caught to prevent a two-run homer.
St. Clair slammed his first homer in the third to make it 6-3, but the turning point came in the fourth. Potomac (15-6) had runners on second and third with one out, but Spicer walked the Panthers' cleanup hitter intentionally, then got a short pop-up and a grounder to get out of the jam.
The Knights took that as a cue and scored six runs in their half of the inning. Dee Dalton's two-run homer capped the inning after Tom Nelson singled in the tying and go-ahead runs.
In the fifth, Potomac intentionally walked Dalton with two out to load the bases and bring up St. Clair. Both are hitting within 10 points of each other, but Dalton had four homers coming into the game while St. Clair had one.
"I'd have probably done the same thing," St. Clair said. "We both hit homers in practice, but I don't seem to get mine in games."
St. Clair homered off Ryan Overholt, the third of four Potomac pitchers.
"He threw fastballs during warmups, so I sat on it and knew it was gone as soon as I hit," St. Clair said.
Patrick Henry got another good pitching performance from junior left-hander Kevin Gabbert. "He threw 200 pitches Friday [in the RVD tournament]," said Dave Nelson, the PH coach. "I normally don't like to throw a pitcher that much, but he asked for the ball. Anyway, the more he works, the better he is."
Gabbert was victimized by his team's defense. He gave up an unearned run in the first, then PH right fielder Larry Danewood misjudged a fly ball by Keith Woody that got over his head for a two-run triple in the third.
Baker, Fitzgerald (4), Overholt (5), Whitehurst (6) and Dearing. Spicer and St. Clair. W - Spicer (4-2). L - Fitzgerald (5-2). HR - Laskofski (P), 1st, one on; Jones (P), 1st, one on; St. Clair (C) 2, 3rd, none on; 5th, three on; Dalton (C), 4th, one on. Heritage 1020000-360 Patrick Henry 0000010-151
Kurtz, Jamerson and Hall; Gabbert and Lamar. W - Kurtz (4-3). L - Gabbert (8-3). S - Jamerson (1). HR - Worley (P), 6th, none on.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
***CORRECTION***
PUBLISHED CORRECTION RAN ON MAY 23, 1990\ CORRECTION
BECAUSE OF A PHOTOGRAPHER'S ERROR, CHUCK WICKS WAS INCORRECTLY IDENTIFIED AS JASON ST. CLAIR IN A PHOTO CAPTION IN TUESDAY'S SPORTS SECTION ABOUT CAVE SPRING HIGH SCHOOL'S BASEBALL WIN OVER POTOMAC.
Memo: correction