Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 11, 1995 TAG: 9505110037
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
You can see it track and field, you can see it in tennis, you can see it in basketball, and you can see it most vividly of all in Norman Lineburg's iconoclastic football team.
The same is true of baseball, where Wayne Pridgen may be the only coach in the state who comes to practice in jacket, tie, black loafers, and Bobcats black and gold baseball cap. The formal attire might suggest a modern-day John McGraw or Connie Mack.
These days, though, Radford has found other ways to separate itself from the baseball herd. One of the main methods is by putting some very solid teams on the field. At the start of the week, the Bobcats were 9-5-1 overall and 3-2-1 in the Three Rivers District. Giles has clinched the regular-season district championship, but Radford still has the tournament to look forward to.
Besides, it's been nice just to be a contender again.
``It's even been fun going to practice,'' center fielder Mark Franklin said. ``It used to be boring.''
Radford has a solid group of players in the ranks of the underclass including middle infielders Derek Englehard (.432) and Hart Fowler and designated hitter Steve Homiak (.438), but it's Franklin and his contemporaries in the senior class who have brought the Bobcats back to respectability.
``We're a team who knows what it's like to take a real beating,'' catcher and pitcher Foster Ridpath said.
Ridpath and Franklin and the two other seniors, first baseman Travis Griffith and third baseman and pitcher Matt Linkous, have seen the thin and the thick at Radford. The past two years were thin indeed.
``We just didn't have any leadership,'' Linkous said.
Now the leadership and a substantial portion of the clutch play is coming from the aforementioned quartet of 12th-graders.
Franklin has been the ace of the pitching staff with a 5-0 record and a 0.85 earned run average and is hitting .385 with two home runs and 17 runs batted in.
Franklin was appointed as a freshman to the All New River District team by a vote of the coaches, then went on sabbatical as a sophomore in order to concentrate on his classroom work. Franklin is the Bobcats' leadoff batter.
``Some people would question him batting leadoff, but I've got him there because he's going to end up with more plate appearances than somebody down farther in the lineup,'' Pridgen said. ``He's getting some real good looks at the ball.''
The same has not been the case for opposing hitters when Franklin is pitching.
``He gives us more confidence and keeps us from making errors when he's out there on the mound,'' Griffith said.
Linkous has been with Radford since he transferred from Gateway Christian as a sophomore. Linkous has been an impact athlete in two sports (basketball is the other) at Radford.
``He's been a real good leader for us,'' Pridgen said. ``He's very dependable.''
But you can't depend on his pitching motion. The right-hander comes at batters with a variety of pitches that include a curveball and a moving fastball and he delivers the pitches in a range of arm angles from over-the-top to sidearm.
Griffith has batted .316 with a home run and 12 RBI, but his real specialty is two-out hitting.
``He's one of the best two-out hitters we have,'' Pridgen said.
Radford narrowly missed not having him at all. As a freshman, Griffith wrestled with the choice of either playing baseball or soccer.
``I almost didn't play baseball,'' he said. ``I'd always played soccer.''
Finally, Griffith was talked into going with baseball.
``I hate losing a good ballplayer to soccer,'' Ridpath said.
Ridpath has been the textbook good ballplayer for Radford this year. Perhaps that's so because he's changed. Ridpath is not the radical sort he was back in the days when he sported a Mohawk haircut.
``He's matured,'' Pridgen said. ``He used to lose his focus, but he doesn't anymore.''
Ridpath doesn't have time to lose focus now that he's catching on the days he isn't pitching. Ridpath, who was also the football quarterback and a productive basketball player, has pitched his way to a 2.15 ERA.
If nothing else, Ridpath has passed a can-do attitude on to his fellow players.
``We feel like we have a shot to beat anybody we play,'' he said.
by CNB