Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 19, 1994 TAG: 9407260047
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
For that, they have Salem Buccaneers right-hander Matt Chamberlain to blame.
Chamberlain, whose agonies on the mound have been an ongoing blues song for the Bucs, was switchblade sharp until the last inning and tossed a four-hitter as the Bucs won 6-1 in the nightcap to salvage a split of a Monday-night twinbill at Municipal Field.
In the first game, the Keys had 12 hits, seven for extra bases, as they pasted Salem 9-4.
The nightcap went swimmingly for Salem until the seventh, when Chamberlain pitched his way into two-out difficulty. With the bases empty, Chamberlain hit batter B.J. Waszgis, who looked irritated to no small degree. Waszgis may have been tempted to take his complaints directly to the source of the problem had catcher Marcus Hanel not done a neat job of standing between the batter and the mound.
Bryan Link followed with a single and Eric Chavez with a walk to load the bases. Keith Eaddy, fresh from the South Atlantic League, was next. Chamberlain walked him to force in the run.
Chamberlain then gathered himself to induce a fly ball out of Myles Barnden and that was it.
"I wish I hadn't walked that guy," Chamberlain said. "Chances like that [for a complete-game shutout] happen only so often, especially here.
"But when I got to the seventh, I was having a tendency to aim the ball right down the middle and that's where I got into trouble."
Chamberlain wasn't in trouble much. The only walks came in the seventh; otherwise, he struck out six, including the side in the third. He was also the beneficiary of two double plays.
"It's the way baseball has always been," he said. "It's not how hard you throw it; it's where you throw it. I had good location tonight until the seventh."
Chamberlain has been one of the Bucs' biggest mysteries, coming in at 4-10 with a 6.00 ERA. He's been hard on the Keys, though. The last time he saw them, June 6 at Frederick, he gave up one unearned run in eight innings.
"That's the best he's looked in awhile," Salem manager Trent Jewett said of Chamberlain's outing Monday night. "We've seen flashes of that. I think he's tired of losing. His velocity was way up tonight. He's more of a power pitcher than he's shown."
The Bucs put the game out of reach with some power of a different sort - Danny Clyburn's three-run home run in the fifth. It was Clyburn's team-leading 17th dinger this year.
Frederick belted three out in the first game. The authors of the long-distance display were Marco Manrique, Chavez and Waszgis. Chavez and Waszgis added doubles to their resumes (the Keys had four two-baggers) and combined for four runs batted in and five scored.
The Bucs led twice in that affair, but Matt Ruebel couldn't make it hold up.
Clyburn's two-run single put the home team up 2-0 before Frederick produced doubles by Waszgis and Chavez and a homer by Manrique made it 3-2.
Two more Salem runs in the second left the Bucs ahead until the fourth when the Keys tied it. Five Frederick runs in the sixth and seventh blew the game open.
BUCSHOTS: Frederick manager Mike O'Berry, who had lengthy discussions with umpires Ken Kobold and Jerry Lloyd in both games, was dismissed in the fifth inning of the second game. .... Link was called out on weird double play in the second inning of the second game. He struck out, then was called for batter's interference as catcher Marcus Hanel tried to throw out Waszgis attempting to take second.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB