Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 22, 1995 TAG: 9508220074
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAMES C. BLACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Salem Avalanche was victimized by allowing five walks to Winston-Salem during a 5-3 loss on Sunday night and was headed down the same path on Monday evening.
However, the Avalanche was able to overcome a combination of walks and a bad bounce in the first two innings Monday night to defeat the Wilmington Blue Rocks, 7-3, in front of a crowd of 2,016 in Carolina League action at Memorial Stadium.
The Avalanche (28-29) scored six runs in its last two at bats - four with two out in the seventh - against Wilmington reliever Neil Atkinson (0-1) to turn defeat into victory.
Trailing 3-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, Chris Sexton led off the inning with a triple. Vicente Garcia followed with a ground out to third base, but the ball was hit too sharply to score Sexton.
Edgard Velasquez then followed with a groundout to shortstop that scored Sexton to pull the Avalanche within 3-2.
Colin Dixon followed with a home run to left field, his fourth of the season, to tie the score.
Forry Wells and Brian Culp continued the rally with back-to-back singles. They scored on a double down the right-field line by Keith Grunewald to give Salem a 5-3 lead and complete the seventh-inning uprising. Nate Holdren ended the inning with a line out to left field.
For insurance purposes, Wells drove in Sexton and Velasquez with a two-run single in the eighth for the final tally.
The seven runs were the most Salem has scored in its new ballpark and Dixon's homer was the team's third at Memorial Stadium.
"He threw me a couple of nasty ones and I was just lucky to get my bat on the ball," Dixon said of Atkinson's off-speed pitches, reported to have been screwballs.
"We got some clutch hitting off of a pretty good guy," manager Bill Hayes said of Atkinson, recently sent down from Class AA Wichita in the Texas League. "The first guy [starter Javier Gamboa], we didn't figure him out at all. He was just mowing us down."
Gamboa pitched the first six innings, allowing one run on five hits.
"I'm just happy that the offense came around and scored some runs," said Avalanche starter Matt Pool (9-7), who allowed three runs on seven hits in eight innings for the victory.
The Avalanche wasn't so chipper early on in the game. As with Sunday night, Salem found itself in a first-inning jam.
With runners at first and second and two outs, Carlos Mendez grounded a shot to shortstop Sexton. The ball took a bad hop and hit Sexton in the face, allowing Sergio Nunez, who walked to lead off the game, to score from second base.
An inning later, Nunez drove home Mendy Lopez, who had walked to lead off the inning, and Anthony Medrano plated Donovan Delaney, each with singles for a 3-0 lead.
In the past two games, six of the nine batters Salem pitchers have walked eventually scored.
After the second inning, Pool gained control, allowing just four hits over the next six innings.
"I had to settle myself down," Pool said. "I had a hard time finding the strike zone early."
"His breaking ball got a little sharper from the sixth on," Hayes said.
In addition to making better pitches, Pool also got defensive support. The primary savior was Dixon.
In the sixth, the first baseman fielded a chopper by Michael Evans and started a 3-6-3 double play to end the inning.
Two innings later, Dixon made a diving stop on Mendez's grounder and made the unassisted putout.
NOTES: Tonight at 7 p.m. in the second installment of the four-game series, left-hander Tim Byrdak (10-4, 2.11) takes the mound for Wilmington (40-18) against right-hander Brent Crowther (3-4, 2.71) for Salem.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB