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

DATE: TUESDAY, June 1, 1993                   TAG: 9306010124
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

SALEM ADVANCES IN REGION III PLAY

Both of the league's entries in the Group AA Region III baseball tournament - including powerful and previously undefeated Tunstall - were booted with dispatch Monday at Liberty University.

Salem cranked Chatham 8-4, and Jefferson Forest scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning to beat Tunstall 6-2.

Both winners advance to Wednesday's semifinals at the same site. Jefferson Forest, of the Seminole District, will take on Blue Ridge District kingpin William Byrd at 1 p.m., and Salem will play Seminole District champion Amherst County in the nightcap.

Seven players scored for Salem (12-9) as the Spartans won their fifth game in the past six outings. Chatham (12-10) has never won a game in this tournament since moving up to Group AA.

"We keep hitting the ball like we have been, then I think we're capable of playing with anybody in AA," Spartans coach Scott Atkins said.

Salem got a home run from Ryan Blevins, his third, and triples from Tommy Lee, Ryan Palmer and Jimmy Archer in a game that was delayed an hour and 20 minutes because of a thunderstorm. Blevins' shot, which hit the top of the left-field fence and bounced over, staked the Spartans to a 3-1 first-inning lead. Lee then went about the business of tossing a six-hitter, striking out four and walking one.

"He mixed in the curveball and kept us off balance," Chatham coach Tommy Scalpini said.

Said Lee: "I had good defense behind me. I kept the ball down because the umpire had a low zone. My fastball has been better, too."

Lee also had three hits, scored twice and had an RBI.

Archer drove in two runs, and Palmer added another RBI.

"This comes from everybody hitting the ball, fielding cleanly and coming together as a team," Lee said. "It's not one or two people, it's the team."

Reliever Ryan Gilleland got Jefferson Forest out of a bases-loaded, one-out trap in the sixth and then the Cavaliers celebrated by whacking Tunstall ace Bubba Scarce for five hits and five runs in the top of the seventh to rally past the Trojans. Gilleland then retired the side in order in the bottom of the seventh to send Jefferson Forest (18-4) into the second round of the region tournament.

Tunstall (21-1), the Piedmont District champion, finished with a school record for victories.

See microfilm for statistics.