Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 28, 1994 TAG: 9408300048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Unfortunately for the soon-to-be-vacating tenants of Municipal Field, none of it was sufficient to stave off elimination from the Carolina League's Southern Division race.
Just as the Bucs were knocking off the Lynchburg Red Sox 8-6 before a crowd of 4,229 that set a club record for annual attendance, the Durham Bulls were edging Wilmington 7-6 to officially extinguish the Bucs' last hope of a second-half championship.
Salem played as though it still had a chance, albeit a meager one.
``Nobody's quit around here,'' said first baseman Jon Farrell, who homered and extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
Farrell has been a busy fellow lately, going 20-for-36, but the two-run homer he hit to left field in the fifth inning was something altogether different:
He clubbed it with a broken bat.
``That's a first for me and I'm pretty excited about it,'' he said. ``The first two times I hit the ball [a grounder to shortstop and an RBI single], the bat sounded kind of dead. I wasn't going to lay the bat down, though, because it's been doing a pretty good job for me.''
Then, there was Jake Austin, whose evening, if it were outlined on graph paper, would have traced an erratic pattern.
``That was one of the roughest games I've played in in my life,'' said Austin who went an eventful 2-for-2 with an RBI, two runs scored and five times on base.
Twice hit by pitches from Red Sox starter Wes Brooks, Austin also had a concussive but vain collision at the plate with Lynchburg catcher Mark Senkowitz. Then, there were two first-to-home sprints.
``I'm going to go home and take a bath,'' he said.
Trent Jewett, Salem's manager, may have felt like drowning Austin in a tub after he ran through a stop sign at third base and on to his doom at the plate in the fifth.
``I wanted to stop ... '' he said.
Jewett's gentlemanly remarks allowed for ample reading between the lines.
``Jake was playing hard and it was my fault,'' he said. ``I didn't give him a good enough sign.''
Nobody had to worry much about signs when Danny Clyburn came to the plate. He clobbered the ball thrice, twice resulting in doubles and on another occasion a long sacrifice fly. That was good for four RBI. Clyburn, who is on a 4-for-7 tear with six RBI, appears to be snapping out of a downdraft that had left him 5-for-35.
Another guy coming out of a slump is Mitch House, who went 3-for-4 and has six hits in his past seven at-bats.
``I'll take that,'' he said. ``But the ones tonight were bleeders.''
The Salem pitching was good, save for a faltering sixth inning that knocked out starter Jason Abramavicius. Terry Farrar pitched two scoreless innings, and Sean Evans came on to record his ninth save. Evans gave up two hits, a walk and a run, but caught Jewett's eye.
``After he put two guys on, he pitched very well,'' the manager said. ``He came up with something extra.''
``At least I threw it across the plate,'' Evans said. ``Two weeks ago, I was wishing it across the plate. I was trying to throw it down the middle of the plate and let them hit it.''
BUCSHOTS: The Bucs have drawn 148,088 fans this year for the record, and the crowd tonight for the finale at Municipal Field should pad that substantially. ... Added to the array of Pittsburgh Pirates officials on hand for the home stand was general manager Cam Bonifay, who arrived Saturday. ... Game time today is 6 p.m., an hour earlier than usual.
by CNB