Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 9, 1994 TAG: 9407090037
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Anybody who would have claimed that the Salem Buccaneers could have scored all their runs in the third inning then held on for a 3-2 victory over the Lynchburg Red Sox would have sent somebody searching for a sportcoat with no sleeves.
The Bucs did it Friday night, though. For testimony, seek out one of 2,198 eyewitnesses.
L-Sox manager Mark Meleski was one of them.
"You know, I turned to [pitching coach Jim] Bibby at one point and said, `Three runs won't win this game,' " Meleski said. "But that's what happened."
Sean Evans, the last of six Salem pitchers, closed it out with a scoreless but nervous ninth for his fifth save. John Graham led off with a single, took second on Dana LaVangie's sacrifice, and made it all the way to third on a fly ball. But there he stayed when Evans coaxed a grounder to second out of Pat Murphy to conclude the proceedings.
Lynchburg (35-52) had 12 hits and marooned nine runners.
"We had so many opportunities . . . " said Meleski, in what has become a familiar refrain for him.
Salem manager Trent Jewett looked like a man who had spent the night in a haunted house after the Bucs (39-47) took two of three from the L-Sox.
"We needed one of those," he said. "We can't just slug it out with people every night."
The Bucs tried that the previous night, winning 9-7 in their last at-bat. That game featured a combined 31 hits.
"These teams could have used some of those hits and runs tonight," Meleski said.
This time, Salem only had six hits, four of those coming in the third. By the game's standards, the two doubles and the home run that produced all the runs were a bona fide offensive stampede.
Reed Secrist, in the lineup for the second night in a row, got the inning going with a solo home run, his fourth of the year, off Lynchburg pitcher Richard Licursi.
"It was a first-pitch fastball and I swung at it," said Secrist, who took advantage of his two not-so-frequent starts by going 4-for-7 with three runs scored. "I saw it and hit it; it felt good."
The Bucs had only two more hits - singles by Jake Austin and Danny Clyburn - the rest of the way. Salem pitching, meanwhile, was getting more exposure than usual.
"We've always got some fresh arms," Salem catcher Jason Kendall said.
Too many arms for Lynchburg.
`'Makes the hitters think about it," Meleski said. "You can't get keyed in."
\ BUCSHOTS: No Salem player had more than one hit. . . . Dan Collier plated the only two Lynchburg runs in the sixth with a two-out single off Bucs starter Dave Doorneweerd. . . . Salem begins a three-game set with Kinston tonight at Municipal Field.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB