Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 3, 1994 TAG: 9406030054
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: COVINGTON LENGTH: Medium
"Great games, if you love pitching," said Bruce Frazier, Giles' coach.
Glenvar left-hander Jason Anderson dominated Grayson County with his arm and his bat in a 3-1 Highlanders victory in the first game, and Denny Wagner of Castlewood and Jason Dunn of Giles hooked up in a classic pitchers' duel won by the Blue Devils 2-1 in the nightcap at Casey Field.
Glenvar and Castlewood hook up for their second consecutive regional championship matchup at 4 p.m. today. Glenvar won last year's regional crown, then beat Castlewood again in a Group A semifinal.
Anderson was outstanding Thursday, hurling a 15-strikeout, one-walk four-hitter at Grayson County (16-6).
"He was overpowering," said Ed Goodson, the Blue Devils' coach. "He got his curve over when he wanted to, and when he threw his fastball, we couldn't do anything with it."
Anderson fanned eight in a row.
"I was on top of my game today," he said. "I made a couple of bad pitches and I paid for them. But I got my composure back."
Keith Weatherman singled and Chad Shaffner doubled him home in the fourth, but that was it for Grayson.
Glenvar (18-2-1) led 2-0 going to the bottom of the third, after Anderson hit a two-run homer off Blue Devils right-hander Wes Self, a freshman.
"He got it up and I went with the pitch," Anderson said.
In the second game, Giles got the pitching performance of Dunn's life, a four-hit, five-strikeout, seven-walk mind-bender. Both Castlewood runs were unearned.
"He can't pitch any better than that," Frazier said of his No. 3 starter. "When he's on, like he was tonight, his ball is all over the place."
Giles parlayed two hits, two walks and an error into a 1-0 lead after one inning and it was pretty much up to Dunn and the defense to make it stand up.
The reason was Castlewood's Wagner, who has one of the best right arms in the Virginia high school ranks. With pitches regularly registering in the mid-80s on scouts' radar guns, Wagner struck out 13 and gave up three hits, one fewer than his less-heralded counterpart.
With the bats in cold storage, Giles had to use any measures necessary to stay in the game. Twice the Spartans (15-9) picked off runners using chicanery. They did it in the third, duping Travis Scott on second into believing there was a foul ball, then tagging him when he wandered from the bag. In the seventh, they caught Jason Monk off first with the phantom-pickoff ploy used by Miam in the 1982 College World Series.
"We should have known better," said Castlewood coach Dan Glass, whose team is 21-0. "But it worked for them."
by CNB