Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 29, 1990 TAG: 9006280313
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV10 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Ray Cox
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Those guys can play some ball.
They've proved it, particularly in the last three games. The scorebook, please: 30 hits and 35 runs in 21 innings.
"They've been hitting the ball exteremely well, and the pitching's been better than I thought it would be," said Giles County coach Danny Evans.
Pitching was the paramount preseason concern, as is usually the case at this level. But left-hander Chad Phillips of Radford High and right-hander Andy Tawney of Giles have been most effective.
Phillips is 2-0 and, best of all, has exhibited admirable control. During his last outing he struck out 10 batters. Tawney, who was one of the surprises of the New River District season, is turning out to be a similar revelation during the Legion campaign.
The book on Tawney: not overpowering, but keeps the ball down; sneaky fastball; knows how to pitch.
The hitting has been there all along, but it has looked particularly good lately.
Eddie Martin, the first baseman from Radford, had seven hits in the past three games. Catcher Brandon Smith, relatively quiet early in the season, hit his first home run recently and has crunched some other balls smartly. Paul Evans of Giles has hit well. Lloyd Zelazny of Blacksburg has been making nice contact but hasn't had nice luck. Benji Pennington has been murder with a bat.
Then there's Eddie Sloss of Blacksburg, the third baseman:
"That boy's been killing the ball lately," Danny Evans said.
Sloss' production in the last three games: homered, doubled and singled in a 14-12 victory over Martinsville; tripled and doubled in a 10-7 loss to Tri-Counties in the first game of a double-header; tripled, doubled, singled and walked twice in a slaughter-rule shortened 14-4 rout in the nightcap.
The only baseball bummer that Giles has had to endure is the loss of its center-fielder, Adam Plum of Radford. Plum went through a window while on a trip to the beach, tearing up his wrist and hand. He will be gone for the season.
"That's really stuck a burr under our saddle," Evans said of Plum. "He's all over the outfield in center, can hit, and can throw the ball 80-some miles per hour. We were working with him to try to make him into a pitcher, but he was wild. He'd either strike 'em out or walk 'em. Nobody was hitting anything, though."
Looks like Sloss will be moving to center, where, with his superior athletic ability, he ought to do fine.
Giles, which started the week 3-1, will be playing Roanoke South Saturday in a game that could have first-place implications in the Blue Ridge District.
"We'll see what we're made of then," Evans said.
In a recent historical oddity, two former New River District baseball standouts teamed for a professional victory last weekend.
Right-hander Mike Montgomery, of Carroll County High by way of East Tennessee State, pitched seven strong innings, and one-time Giles High and Virginia Tech hurler Mike Williams relieved and earned his first pro save as the Batavia Clippers beat the Elmira Red Sox 4-2 in a New York-Penn League game.
Montgomery, who has been pitching in long relief, got a spot start, working seven innings, giving up four runs (three earned) seven hits and two walks while striking out a batter. Williams contributed two scoreless innings.
Both pitchers were All Timesland players in their day but Williams was chosen as an infielder.
Another fellow with New River District baseball ties has been staying close to the game.
Roger Davidson, a Pulaski native and a former baseball and football coach at Christiansburg High, has been given summer employment as an instructor at Bucky Dent's baseball school in Delray Beach, Fla.
During the school year, Davidson is the head baseball coach and head of the physical education department at Deerfield Beach High, a school of 2,200 in South Florida.
What a year so far for some New River Valley golfers.
First and most famous, of course, is Floyd County's Susan Slaughter, the NCAA woman's champion from the University of Arizona.
Then Mike Grant, formerly of Radford High, now at VCU, won the Greater Blacksburg Open with a record-setting 7-under-par 137. Grant fired rounds of 69 and 68 to become only the second amateur in the past six years to win the GBO.
Chris Bushong, the one-time Pulaski County High standout, recently won the sectional qualifying tournament for the Virginia State Amateur at Blue Hills in Roanoke.
Finally, there is the good news that Matt Martin's recovery from brain surgery is proceeding nicely. The Radford High student shot a 77 in qualifying for the Virginia State Junior, indicating that his game is getting to where it was before the surgery.
"His swing looks super," said Blacksburg Country Club pro Jim Williams, who's who worked with Martin lately. "All he needs is to get a little stronger. I was surprised and tickled to death."
Three representatives of the Pulaski YMCA/Southwest Aquatic swim team have been invited to the all star meet at the Virginia CorEast State Games next week. They will be swimming at Fallon Park in Roanoke July 6-8.
Brian Manning of Dublin, 14, will probably swim the freestyle and backstroke; Rickie Jennings of Pearisburg, 13, will swim the individual medley; Graham Gravley of Hillsville, 10, the state's best backstroker for that age group, will perform in that event and perhaps the freestyle.
by CNB