Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 4, 1994 TAG: 9408040091
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
After working the count to 3-0 with two outs and the bases loaded in the fateful eighth inning, Salem's Chance Sanford couldn't finish what he started and eventually struck out.
That was the last chance for the Bucs, who lost 5-1 to the Durham Bulls with 1,934 watching.
A modest two-game winning streak was terminated for Salem (15-24), which has lost seven of its past nine.
Much of the credit for the home team's demise went to Durham starter Mike D'Andrea, who worked 72/3 innings, with only seven hits and one run to his discredit.
"It isn't the first time he's stuck it to us," Salem manager Trent Jewett said.
Indeed, D'Andrea shut out the Bucs over eight innings of a 5-0 Bulls victory on June 30.
He knew better than to bask too obviously in the limelight in the Durham clubhouse Wednesday night.
"What do you want to talk to him for?" Durham second baseman Marty Malloy said. "He can't even go nine innings."
D'Andrea rolled his eyes.
"You're right," he said.
Not a bad evening's labor, despite the mock disrespect.
"Early in the game I was kind of wild, and that helped me," he said. "I wasn't wild-wild [he walked but two all night] - I could put it where I wanted to left and right. I was wild up and down."
Not coincidentally, the Bucs scored their run in the first on Danny Clyburn's single. That rally fizzled when Jake Austin was thrown out trying to take third on the same play.
D'Andrea gathered his thoughts after that, and, until the eighth, he didn't allow a runner to progress beyond second base.
"[Catcher] David Toth called a real good game behind the plate," D'Andrea said. "We didn't show them my breaking ball until the second time around, and that helped me."
The Bucs' reaction to the off-speed stuff left Jewett stewing.
"He was relying mostly on his change-up in the middle innings, and we weren't adjusting," he said. "Nobody but [Ramon] Zapata seemed to realize that was the way he was getting us out despite repeated attempts to tell them."
The Bulls, meanwhile, were pecking away at Bucs starter Jason Abramavicius, who struggled along through 41/3 innings at the cost of four walks, nine hits and four runs.
"He didn't throw enough first-pitch strikes, and, for him, that changes his game plan a lot," Jewett said.
Yet the Bucs were never out of it, as they proved by stringing together two hits and a hit batter with two outs in the eighth to chase D'Andrea. Simmons offered a helping left arm.
"Simmons really picked me up," D'Andrea said. "This game could have easily been a different story if he hadn't done that."
BUCSHOTS: Clyburn was the lone offensive bright spot for the Bucs, going 3-for-4. ... Carolina League president John Hopkins was in attendance. ... The Bucs turned two double plays, giving them five for the series. ... For the third-straight game, Salem did not have an error. ... Salem native Murray Cook has been retained as a consultant for the installation of the playing surface at the new Salem ballpark. Cook runs a baseball complex in West Palm Beach, Fla., and is considered a leading authority on baseball groundskeeping.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB