Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 30, 1994 TAG: 9405300084
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Unfortunately, some of the Bucs felt gypped.
"We got only one win out of that?" said Dave Rajsich, Salem's pitching coach. "I thought we'd get at least two."
The Bucs (23-27) may have gotten only one victory in the Carolina League standings, but it seemed like they played long enough for two games. Three hours, 21 minutes of this sort of entertainment probably was more than a sun-drenched crowd of 5,301 needed.
It certainly was more than the Keys (24-25) wanted. Mark O'Berry, Frederick's manager, was asked if he had a sufficient quantity of beer for the long bus ride out of town.
"I wish," he said.
Not much would dull the ache of 17 Salem hits - three of them home runs - eight walks surrendered (two with the bases loaded), two wild pitches bounced, two batters plunked and four errors committed.
"We didn't pitch good, we didn't field good, we didn't throw good," O'Berry said. "We did hit the ball a little, but otherwise we didn't do very much of anything good."
It figured that an infielder - second baseman Gregg Castaldo - was the last man standing on the Keys' mound. His report card: two hits, two walks, two runs and one double play induced.
It's not good when such a selfless fellow has to save an abused pitching staff - Castaldo was the seventh hurler used - from further flogging.
"I had to use him to pitch one other time," O'Berry said. "But if that's all you have to write about, you don't have much."
Salem manager Trent Jewett, a former catcher, wasn't wholly unsympathetic.
"I've had to pitch before," he said. "Let me tell you, it isn't any fun."
Fun was had by most all of the Bucs, who produced a run batted in from every slot in the order but the ninth. Even in baseball, there is the concept of having too much fun, though.
"That game was long enough, even being on the winning side," said Salem catcher Jason Kendall.
Kendall was the author of an odd feat: He drove in a run five different ways in each of five plate appearances. Kendall brought them home with a homer, a sacrifice fly, when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, on a single and on a groundout.
"Every time I was up, somebody was in scoring position," he said.
Jay Cranford must have felt the same way. He drove in five with a homer, double and single before leaving for a defensive replacement in the eighth inning.
Chance Sanford also had three hits.
The purple heart went to Mitch House, a first baseman, and left-hander Danny Young, both newly arrived from Augusta. They played a South Atlantic League game Saturday night in Asheville, N.C., were informed they were being called up, then drove by bus three hours back to Augusta, Ga. From there, they drove all night to Salem.
Yo fellows, a little sleepy?
Young hardly had the energy to roll his eyes after pitching a four-hit, three-run seventh.
"I like him," Jewett said. "One of his pitches hit 91 [mph] on the [radar] gun. He'll be fine. I liked the way he got angry about giving up the runs. A pitcher has to be greedy."
House, who played with former Timesland athlete of the year Calvin Talford at Castlewood High School, fared better, homering in his first at-bat, scoring three runs and driving in two. He ended the game with an unassisted play at first base.
On a melancholy note for House, none of his kinfolk were there to see his first pro game on Virginia soil. A brother, DeWitt, is the principal at Liberty High School.
"He doesn't know I'm here yet," Mitch said. "I tried to call him, but he was off playing softball."
Once DeWitt gets a load of the score of this Carolina League game, he might think his brother was playing softball.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB