NEFF BEEFS UP BAT AND BUILDS CONFIDENCE WITH SALEM

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, April 18, 1993                   TAG: 9304180009
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
NEFF BEEFS UP BAT AND BUILDS CONFIDENCE WITH SALEM
Marty Neff came through spring training with a plump waistline and a skinny batting average and marching orders to reverse both situations.
The Salem Buccaneers' outfielder/designated hitter is complying admirably.
Although he won't be a top candidate to do televised advertisements for the morning workout shows any time soon, he has lost 15 pounds. Even better, he just finished working over the Wilmington Blue Rocks for a .466 batting average (7-for-15), two home runs, two doubles and five runs batted in. That snapped a 2-for-14 skid to start the season.
Nice (well, decent) physique, bruising bat, he even has a good attitude. That despite the fact that he might have been in the fast lane to Class AA Carolina coming out of Florida this spring.
Or so he might have thought after hitting a combined .274 with 23 home runs and 74 RBI at Augusta and Salem last year. But when he was told otherwise, did he moan and gnash his teeth? Absolutely not.
"I wasn't hitting the ball all that well in spring training," he said. "And they were upset with me because I came in a little overweight."
After playing at a relatively svelte 195 pounds last year, he came in somewhere in the 215 range this year. The problem was an off-season spent as a full-time stocker in one of the big discount retail warehouses near his home in Anaheim, Cal. No time to work out. When there was, it seemed like it was raining all the time. Beyond that, he had a tough time getting into public school facilities because of fears of liability problems with non-students.
Still, you might have been sympathetic if he had been disappointed about being sent back to Salem. Instead, he's given the phrase "being a sport" a whole new meaning.
"Any hitter who gets a chance to come to a place like Salem Municipal Field and hit would think it was OK, even if it is [Class] A ball," he said. "My shot at AA will come eventually."
Neff obviously is enamored with the cozy stadium, where he hit 14 of his 15 Carolina League home runs last year.
"I've always hit better here than I did on the road," said Neff, the Pittsburgh Pirates' sixth choice in the 1991 June draft out of the University of Oklahoma. "I like the short porch here. I guess I have confidence here."
\ DOWN HOME: The Bucs spent their first week in town (they opened with four games at Kinston) getting used to their surroundings. "If this league shows the competitiveness I've seen in the first series in Kinston and the next one with Wilmington, then I'm really going to like this league," said Salem shortstop Tony Womack, a Gretna High School graduate. . . . Kevin Rychel, back in Salem for a second year, is one of many pitchers who have spent disagreeable nights at Municipal. "I call it the Denver of the East," he said of the field's propensity for yielding the long ball. . . . Salem pitching coach Dave Rajsich works in his brother's Arizona taxidermy shop during the off-season. . . . Pirates roving hitting instructor Pete Vuckovich and hitting instructor Steve Henderson were in town for the opening homestand.
\ ALONG CAME A SPIDER: Frederick Keys pitcher Scott Klingenbeck left spring training in Florida with a sore pitching arm, but throwing had nothing to do with it.
The problem started with a bump on the back of his upper right arm that grew more ugly and sore each day. When the arm became discolored all the way to the shoulder, he consulted a doctor. Klingenbeck was told that he had been bitten by a spider and had subsequently developed a staph infection. If he had let it go a week or two, it could have killed him, he was told.
Doctors then removed a plug of flesh from the affected area leaving a hole the size of a nickel.
On his first trip to the mound after the bite, he threw five shutout innings in a 7-6 loss to the Winston-Salem Spirits on Thursday.
\ THE PLAYING FIELDS OF ACADEME: Ferrum's Jerold Smith had a recent week in which he hit .615 (8-for-13), scored nine runs and had three homers, two doubles, five RBI and a steal. . . . VMI was leading the Southern Conference with a .971 team fielding average. . . . Virginia Tech tangles with North Carolina State, which is ranked No. 2 in the country by USA Today, on Tuesday in Martinsville. The Hokies take on old rival Virginia on Wednesday at Salem Municipal Field. . . . Former Jefferson Forest High School standout Troy Doss was leading Lynchburg College with a .318 batting average and nine RBI. . . . Former Timesland player of the year Chris Williams of Bath County is batting .267 with 16 hits and 13 runs for James Madison. . . . Chesterfield County school superintendent Thomas Fulghum upheld a recent decision to boot Monacan seniors Alex Webb and Jeff Lederman from the baseball team. Their offense? They were caught smoking cigarettes.

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB