Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 10, 1994 TAG: 9407290011
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Then, Kinston left-hander Casey Whitten was gone, but not after twisting the Salem Buccaneers in knots with a three-hit shutout for seven innings as the Indians won the opener of a three-game series at Municipal Field by disposing of the host Buccaneers 3-0 on Saturday night.
``Third time in a row that he's dealt on us,'' said Trent Jewett, Salem's manager. ``He pitched very well again.''
When last Whitten faced Salem on July 3 in Kinston, N.C., he carried a shutout into the eighth inning before Jake Austin hit a three-run homer to spark a 4-1 victory. Whitten didn't throw any bad pitches this time.
Among the best of his bafflers was a sneaky little change-up.
``The whole first half [of the Carolina League season], I might have thrown one good change a game,`` said Whitten, a second-round draft choice. But I started working with my pitching coach, Greg Booker, and about three games ago I threw a real good one in the bullpen. ``I built on that and went from there.''
The result was 11 flyouts, seven of those to right fielder Andre White. And on a hit by Austin in the fourth, White threw him out at second trying to stretch it into a double.
``Andre had a great night,'' said Dave Keller, Kinston's manager. ``He had a lot of opportunities and he took advantage of every single one.''
Whitten, a sinewy 175-pounder from Indiana, retired eight in a row and 13 of 14 from the first through the fifth innings.
That was after a first inning best portrayed as shaky for a while. After erasing leadoff batter Jeff Conger on a comebacker, Whitten proceeded to load the bases with walks to Ramon Zapata and Austin and a single to Jason Kendall.
Whitten then struck out Danny Clyburn and induced a fly to left from Jay Cranford to defuse the threat.
``After we couldn't capitalize in the first, we never really threatened again,'' Jewett said.
As good as he was, Whitten was operating without benefit of a full arsenal.
``My fastball didn't feel good tonight,'' he said. ``They were taking some good hacks at it.''
Hitters have been batting .299 against Whitten on the road, but he has been more effective lately, as Saturday night's outing in Salem illustrated.
``Again, I think the key to that has been the change[-up],'' he said.
Whitten was locked in a duel with Salem starter Marc Wilkins for three innings. But then the Indians broke through with two runs.
Juan Andujar opened the fourth inning with a single, and one out later Chad Townsend also singled as Andujar took third. With Eddie Lantigua batting, Wilkins hurled a wild pitch past catcher Kendall and all the way to the backstop. Andujar came home with the second run.
Two hits and a walk to start the seventh sent Wilkins to the dugout in favor of Terry Farrar, who promptly gave up a run-scoring single to White. Manuel Santana came in to finish the inning and continued to pitch without incident through the ninth.
Once Whitten was gone, Salem made some noise with the bats, but to no avail. Marcus Hanel was left at third in the eighth. In the ninth, a double play closed one chance and another went up in smoke when Austin was caught in a base-running blunder and thrown out easily at third.
``All I know is that he stopped running,'' Jewett said.
Kendall appeared to believe the ball he hit was a home run; in any event, it was an odd way to end a game.
Only Townsend and Mike Neal had as many as two hits. Neal had three to go with an RBI, a run scored, and his sixth stolen base.
``I expected it to be a close game with Wilkins and Whitten,'' Jewett said. ``I was impressed with Wilky. He threw his change-up for strikes and he was around the plate all night.''
BUCSHOTS: Salem left-hander Jason Abramavicius (1-3, 3.02 ERA) will pitch against right-hander Maximo De La Rosa (0-2) today (7 p.m.) in the second of three games with the Indians. ... Chris Peters (1-0, 13.50 ERA) has been sent back to Augusta of the South Atlantic League. ``I thought he pitched well for us up here,'' Jewett said.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB