Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 31, 1994 TAG: 9405310088
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
But the hits they did have meant something, and the plays that counted they made.
The Terriers subdued stubborn Magna Vista 4-3 Monday at Hooker Field to advance to the Group AA Region III baseball semifinals. The opponent will be Seminole District regular-season champion Jefferson Forest, which drew a first-round bye.
The Terriers (19-1), crushed 10-0 by Lord Botetourt in the Blue Ridge District tournament in their last outing, got three of their four hits and three of their four runs in the fifth inning.
Magna Vista starter Jason Berry had been stout to that point and was leading 2-1, but a leadoff walk to Shannon Gray started Byrd on its way. Gray stole second and was sacrificed to third by Ricky Ellis.
Chris Carr, the Byrd pitcher, singled in one run before C.D. Polumbo singled his way on. A Mike McGuire strikeout later, Jason Porter doubled in two runs on a 1-2 pitch.
"I was confident I could hit him," Porter said. "I'd been on him all night. I was just trying to hit it up the middle."
Carr was pitching a one-hitter and the two runs the Warriors (14-7) had scored in the third were unearned because of two errors by Porter, the catcher. But Carr immediately got into trouble with a leadoff double to Denard Taylor.
Then, with one out, Carr proceeded to walk three in a row, the third to Brent Vartenisian scoring a run.
"I wasn't sharp," said Carr, who hadn't pitched in 10 days.
Byrd lucked out after that. With Carl Morton at the plate, Carr threw a pitch that would have hit the batter if the butt of his bat handle hadn't gotten in the way. With the runners frozen in place, the Terriers turned a catcher-first-home double play.
"Never seen anything like it," Magna Vista coach Ricky Ramey said. "We have a young team; that's inexperience."
Berry retired Byrd in order in the sixth. Then after two more Carr walks - he had five to go with two hit batters - he struck out Shane Grady looking to end the game.
"Usually the day before a game, I pitch off the mound so that it feels natural when I go in the game," Carr said. "But yesterday was Sunday so I didn't get to practice. . . . I had to work a little today." \
see microfilm for box score
by CNB