Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 10, 1994 TAG: 9406170099
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By M.J. DOUGHERTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HILLSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Then Carr and his teammates provided the Terriers with some timely hitting.
And after that, Carr's pitching prevented Carroll County from mounting a rally.
Thus, William Byrd downed the Cavaliers 9-3 in the Group AA baseball state quarterfinals.
The Terriers (21-2) will host the winner of today's Gate City-Tunstall match-up in the semifinals.
The loss ended the season for Carroll County (18-5).
Carr (13-1) pitched out of jams in the first and second inning. He stranded three runners, including two in scoring position.
Meanwhile, the Terriers had just one base runner in the first three innings against Carroll County ace Kenny Ward (10-1).
But in the fourth, Byrd broke on top with three runs. With one out, Rich Ellis walked and then Carr and C.D. Polumbo hit back-to-back singles.
A wild pitch that landed in the stands 40 feet behind home plate scored Ellis. Jason Porter singled home Carr. And Polumbo came in on a ground out.
``It usually takes us once or twice through the line-up to watch a pitcher,'' Polumbo. ``Once we've seen him, we can usually hit just about any pitcher.''
The Cavaliers struck for a run of their own in the bottom half of the fourth. But it could have been much worse. They loaded the bases on a single by Ray Briggs, a walk to Brian Hawks, and a sacrifice by Ward where he reached on a fielder's choice after not being tagged.
But Carr stymied the Cavaliers with a pair of strike outs. In between, a sacrifice fly by Willie Bryant scored Briggs.
``I'd been throwing pretty hard but I have saved a little bit extra for when I needed it,'' said Carr. ``I figured I might need it some time to get an out. Also, one of the coaches was working with me in the bullpen on two-seam fastball. That ball really tails away. I figured I had nothing to lose. So I went with it instead of the four-seamer.''
Carroll County coach Bill Worrell also realized the importance of that inning.
``We had the bases loaded with none out and we only got one run,'' said Worrell. ``I don't know if that was the turning point but it certainly didn't help us.''
What really didn't help the Cavaliers came next - a six-run uprising by William Byrd. In that fateful fifth inning, the Terriors knocked out Ward as they sent 12 batters to the plate, knocked out five hits and took advantage of two Carroll County errors.
Carr knocked out Ward with a two-run single to start the scoring.
``[Ward] tried to come inside,'' said Carr. ``Luckily I was able to get the head of the bat out a little bit and hit it down the [left field] line.''
The hit put Byrd up 5-1. And Ward was at a loss to explain his fate.
``It was one of those days,'' said Ward, who suffered his first loss of the season. ``You can't win them all. Everything pretty much was working. I didn't get a lot of run support. And I faced a good pitcher.''
Two batters later, Mike McGuire broke the game open with a two-run single to right-center field off of relief pitcher Brad Leonard.
``I think he was behind on the count so he tried to come in with something to get a strike,'' said McGuire. ``I just put it back through the middle.''
The final two runs of the uprising came home on a fielder's choice and an error.
Given an eight-run cushion, Carr made the lead stand up. He tired in the later innings but the only time Carroll County did any damage against him was in the sixth inning.
William Byrd||000 360 0 - 9 9 0
Carroll County||000 102 0 - 3 6 3
Carr and Porter; Ward, Leonard (6) and Barrier. W - Carr (12-1). L - Ward (10-1).
by CNB