Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 29, 1995 TAG: 9505020017
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
These cold-eyed professionals come into an ailing company and within a prescribed amount of time have it whipped back into shape.
Which is pretty much the description of the job Ray Dunavant has done with Pulaski County High's back-from-the depths baseball team. Yet there are substantial differences between Dunavant and his counterparts in the world of commerce:
When turnaround specialists go to work in business and industry, heads almost always roll. When Dunavant took his place in the Cougars' dugout, the only heads that rolled were those symbolic ones representing the Cougars' opposition.
It's now been a season and a half of the Dunavant regime and the Cougars are back as a Roanoke Valley District contender. Two years ago, and for a few seasons before that, Pulaski County was irrelevant to any discussion of the league's balance of power.
Ending last week at 8-2, including a 3-2 record in the RVD, the Cougars are clearly a team that will have a say about the ultimate outcome of the league's regular season and tournament.
Thinking back on it, you could see it coming as recently as last year, when the Cougars made one of Timesland's biggest turnarounds and finished two games under .500.
With virtually the entire team back, Pulaski County built on its gains of the previous season.
``Generally, we're better overall than we were,'' Dunavant said. ``We just seem to have a better grasp of the game.''
If there is any one factor central to the Cougars' resurgence, it is pitching. A pair of no-hitters - hurled first by Bryan Dalton, a beefy 6-foot-3 sophomore, then by junior right-hander Jason Corvin - has been the focal point of the entire season.
Dalton was 3-0 with a 2.08 earned run average before losing to Cave Spring last week. Dunavant and first-year assistant coach Richard Myers - a former pitcher at Pulaski County and Coastal Carolina - both think that Dalton is not now throwing nearly as hard as he will be before his high school career closes.
As it is, his heater is plenty effective enough, especially in its role as setup pitch for an above-average curve. The only question about Dalton is where his heart is going to take him. He lettered as a sophomore in football, too.
``Between baseball and football, I don't know which one I like the best,'' he said.
Corvin moved up to 3-0 with a 1.92 ERA after the no-no he threw at William Fleming. Corvin is a standard-issue fastball/curve guy except for about 10 percent of the time, when he unveils a knuckleball. The question arose of where a high school kid with a strong arm picked up a pitch normally reserved for old-timers trying to crawl back from washed-up status.
``I sure didn't teach it to him,'' Dunavant said.
But the coach is not opposed to calling for the devilish delivery in certain situations.
``If the knuckleball is working well in warmups, then we'll let him use it,'' Dunavant said.
Such was the case in the Fleming game.
``I didn't think that I'd have a day like that,'' he said. ``The wind was against me and that really helped my curve and my knuckleball.''
Caleb Hurd, among the team's most veteran players, also has pitched well.
Key to the development of the pitching staff has been a parallel growth of catcher Tim Davis, who is in his fourth season starting behind the plate. Much of the credit for bringing Davis and the pitchers along has to go to Myers.
``He's worked with me throwing down to second base and blocking the plate,'' said Davis, a terrific athlete who signed to play football for Boston College. ``He's also helped with the mental aspect of my game. He's made me calm down.''
The pitchers are among those who have noticed the change in Davis.
``Timmy knows what he's doing back there,'' Corvin said. ``He has a lot of talent.''
Added Myers: ``Timmy's is very emotional and a great leader. In baseball, you have to keep your emotion more under control. In football, you can pretty much let it go.''
Davis has been getting it done at the plate as well, hitting .300 with seven RBI and four steals. Also doing the job with the bat has been Shane Callahan (.318, 10 runs scored), Matt Hull (.478) and Hurd (.400, seven RBI).
Pulaski County was tied for first in the district until last week when it lost a mind-bender to Cave Spring. The Cougars led 4-0 then lost 5-4.
``We had it won,'' Dunavant said. ``Then we started to kick it around.''
All that aside, nobody's kicking Pulaski County around anymore.
by CNB