Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 23, 1993 TAG: 9305240080
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jorge Posada had to be carried from Salem Municipal Field by his teammates and shipped to a hospital Saturday night with a badly bruised foot. Jeff Motuzas departed after a sunny Sunday afternoon with a bruised ego.
The Salem Buccaneers ran both of those poor receivers crazy for three games, stealing 13 bases, the last six as Salem won 7-4 Sunday to take two of three games from the Cannons.
"They were running right out of the chute," Prince William manager Trey Hillman said.
Seven Bucs got into the larcenous mode, including Tony Womack and Scott Polcovich with three steals each. Womack, the Carolina League leader with 20 steals, didn't even play Sunday as he recovered from an injury to his midsection.
"If you've noticed, we've been stealing a few bases lately," Bucs manager Scott Little said. "We're going to be aggressive."
If everybody in the league hasn't noticed, then somebody has fallen asleep at the switch. The barreling Bucs have 62 steals to make them the league's runaway leader.
Of course, such strategy can lead to some reckless behavior on the base paths, and Salem had some of that in the fifth when it ran itself out of a big inning with 2,119 looking on in dismay.
Jeff Conger got greedy on a double off the wall and was out at third, and Marcus Ponder, after pilfering second, was snagged at third in his second steal attempt. Ken Bonifay followed with a double, and Marty Neff added a run-scoring single.
The Cannons' defense, apparently shaken by the track meet on the bases, then threw the ball around a little, and Neff scored after an error by Motuzas and a fumble by third baseman Tim Flannelly.
Salem had success in other areas as well, as 11 hits by the batters and 10 strikeouts by the pitchers provided evidence.
None came any sweeter, in a personal sense, than Conger's 2-for-2 effort with two walks, two runs scored and two steals. Subbing for Womack at the top of the order, Conger came in in a 5-for-31 swoon.
"I love to lead off," he said. "But it's a Catch-22. You don't hit, and they don't let you lead off."
Polcovich also had two hits and two runs, as did Neff, who reached on a rare (for him) bunt single in the eighth. Neff also drove in two runs.
Ponder was another with two hits.
Doug Harrah, the exile from Class AA Carolina, made his record 2-0 with 5 1/3 innings of four-hit, seven-strikeout pitching. He was responsible for the Prince William runs. Kevin Rychel, Mark Mesewicz and Jeff McCurry prevented further damage. McCurry worked the ninth for his 10th save.
McCurry's only blemish was Motuzas' two-out triple, which bounced off the transformer in right field and returned to the ballpark.
"I thought that one was going to hit a house," McCurry said. "I'm like, `Can I have another baseball?' Then I go, `Hey, I've got to back up third.' "
\ BUCSHOTS: Posada, who took a Sean Evans slider off his right foot Saturday, is expected to be out four to five days. X-rays revealed no break. "We were fortunate on that one," Hillman said. . . . Sunday's game was the Bucs' final matinee of the season. . . . Two of Prince William's six hits were triples, and another was Mark Hubbard's first home run of the season. . . . The Bucs' Mike Brown was excused for the rest of the day after heaving a bat after his third strikeout.
NOTE: see microfilm for statistics.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB