Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 28, 1994 TAG: 9406300075
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Even amid substantial disorder, the Salem Buccaneers proved again they rarely are dead before the last out is made.
The Bucs were down by eight runs at one point, but tried to make a Monday night affair with the Winston-Salem Spirits at Municipal Field interesting by scoring six runs in the last three innings.
Sadly for the Bucs, that wasn't quite enough. The Spirits held on to win the Carolina League baseball game 10-7 before a crowd of 1,747.
The rally may have fizzled for good when Eddie Brooks grounded into a double play with the bases loaded in the ninth. Jay Cranford, aboard on a walk, scored anyway.
Jeff Conger's fly to center field ended it, even though Mitch House, who had been hit by a Bob Jesperson pitch, eased his way home during the at-bat on a wild pitch.
``Eddie's ball finds a hole, either a few feet to the right or the left, and we're bringing the tying run to the plate with no outs,'' said Trent Jewett, Salem's manager. ``Still, I thought he had a hell of a game.''
Brooks, a fifth-round pick in this month's amateur draft, was sent straight from the University of Kentucky to Salem.
``He's had to make a lot of adjustments,'' Jewett said.
Brooks came in hitting .189, but he raised that 31 points by going 2-for-4 on Monday night. One of the singles came when he beat out a bunt dribbled down the third-base line.
Brooks also drew rave reviews for his near-horizontal snag of a Toby Rumfield liner to shortstop in the eighth.
``That was a major-league stop,'' Jewett said.
Salem (35-41) banged out 10 hits, one fewer than the Spirits, and got home runs from Danny Clyburn and Jake Austin, who added a run-scoring double to his two-run homer. Clyburn's homer was a screamer that carried the high barrier in dead center field, a shot that certainly traveled considerably farther than 400 feet.
Salem's offense wasn't the problem, though.
``Our offense has been resilient all year long,'' Jewett said.
The burn in the Bucs' heart came from their pitching, which was best described as ineffective. Starter Ted Klamm set the tone by giving up five runs on four hits, five walks, a wild pitch and a hit batter in 41/3 innings.
Walks were a continuing problem. Salem pitching issued nine of them, a total not at all balanced by four strikeouts.
``You don't like the walks, but sometimes you can't throw it over the plate,'' Jewett said.
Danny Young, Steve Parris and Rich Townsend each took a turn on the hill after Klamm, and all but Parris gave up at least one run.
Winston-Salem had 11 hits, including Pat Watkins' league-leading 20th home run and Mike Meggers'15th. This is a team that has swatted a league-leading 103 homers aside from the 21 that Micah Franklin took with him when he was called up to Class AA Chattanooga.
``The three games we played with Durham before we came here, we didn't swing the bats at all,'' said Mark Berry, Winston-Salem's manager. ``They turned it on a little bit here, though.''
Winston-Salem also made it difficult for its host by turning four double plays (Salem had two) and getting some respectable pitching from Todd Etler.
The Spirits's starter came in with an 0-3 record and an 8.48 earned run average. Monday, he scattered seven hits in seven innings. The Bucs scored three runs off him.
``This is big for him to have a solid outing tonight,'' Berry said. ``Maybe this is what it'll take to turn it around for him.''
The Bucs led 1-0 on Clyburn's home run, but the Spirits torched that advantage with nine runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth.
``Our bullpen has been getting a lot of work lately,'' Jewett said.
``We need to get some more consistency out of our starting pitching.''
BUCSHOTS: Left-handed pitcher Sean Lawrence had a magnetic resonance imaging examination on his ailing right knee Friday, but no word is in yet on the results. ... Cam Bonifay, general manager of the parent Pittsburgh Pirates, was in town to observe the Bucs.
by CNB