Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 4, 1994 TAG: 9406040051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
The result of a confrontation between too many bats and not enough arms was a predictable one.
William Byrd, with a pitching staff cooked by two tough prior games in the Group AA Region III tournament, was no match for free-swinging and well-rested Tunstall in Friday night's championship game at Hooker Field, falling 13-2.
"This was one we wanted to win, but at least we'll be playing again," said Byrd coach Rodney Spradlin.
The Terriers (20-2) will play at Region IV champion Carroll County late next week on a day to be determined. Carroll beat Gate City 5-4 on Friday.
Tunstall (23-0) is host to Gate City next week in the state quarterfinals.
"We've been to the region a lot of years, but we just couldn't get out of it," Tunstall coach Owen Shields said.
The Trojans have played in the region 10 times during Shields' tenure, last winning it in 1976, which also turned out to be a state championship year.
This time, Tunstall will be going to the state with its best pitcher, Bubba Scarce, having more than a week of rest for his rocket-launcher of a right arm. Scarce, who was taken in the 11th round of this week's amateur draft by the Oakland Athletics, is undecided about whether he'll sign. He knows he has a scholarship to North Carolina State waiting for him in any case.
One thing that he does know is that he doesn't want to play any more third base, where he started for the first time Friday night (he's usually at shortstop when he isn't on the mound) and had two errors.
"I put him over there because I was worried he might go deep in the hole and try to throw one too hard," Shields said.
No matter. The miscues at third were about all the Trojans did wrong against Byrd. As it was, they got a three-hitter out of No. 2 pitcher Khris Law, who struck out nine Terriers while going the distance.
"His ERA is around 1.00," Shields said. "He picked a good time to pitch another good game."
Spradlin, meanwhile, gambled that he could get a few more innings out of Chris Carr, who had pitched 10 innings in victories over Magna Vista Monday and Jefferson Forest Wednesday. Carr wasn't himself and it showed.
"My arm is sore," he said. "Plus, my ribs are bruised after I got hit with a ball while I was warming up Wednesday."
Carr went two innings and Byrd was still in the game, trailing 3-2 (both runs off Law were unearned). But the Trojans feasted on the Byrd bullpen, which had gone virtually unused most of the year.
Tunstall's big inning was the fourth, when it scored six runs, three of them the result of bases-loaded walks and two on a two-run blast by Tunstall cleanup hitter Mark Inge.
by CNB