ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 11, 1996 TAG: 9604110067
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
The Salem Avalanche appears incapable of playing a dull baseball game.
Brian Culp may have done everybody a favor when he lashed a home run over the left-center field fence to settle the first game of a Carolina League doubleheader 7-5 over the Wilmington Blue Rocks on Wednesday.
In the second game, two unearned Salem runs in the bottom of the seventh inning left the teams tied 5-5 going into extra innings at press time.
As for the first game, even the Blue Rocks might silently have thanked Culp for keeping matters to seven innings on another brisk evening at Memorial Field.
"They Zambonied the outfield before the game,'' Culp said. "We had a real smooth surface out there.''
A smooth stroke with two outs was good for the game winner.
"I never ended a game with one,'' Culp said. "I wasn't sure I could hit it out of here. I hit a couple last year that I thought I'd hit well and they didn't even reach the warning track.''
Just as important was the single John Fantauzzi stroked that preceded Culp's clout. Fantauzzi had replaced Nate Holdren, lost to a pinch runner in the fifth.
"Fantauzzi was down to his last strike,'' Culp said. "He clutched up there. He was coming in there cold, too, which is hard to do.''
Fantauzzi kept it going in the second game, doubling in his first two at-bats.
SNOWBALLS: The Blue Rocks had two players with Virginia ties on the roster. Outfielder Al Shirley was a New York Mets first-round draft choice coming out of out of George Washington of Danville High before being traded to the Kansas City Royals. Shirley had been recruited to play to play football for Virginia. Left-handed pitcher Marc Phillips went to VMI, where his last season was 1994. He was 6-2 with a 3.05 ERA and three saves in 38 games last season in Springfield, Ill., of the Midwest League. ... Blake Barthol, in his first game for the Avalanche this season, homered for his first hit of the season in the opener. ... Salem pitcher Stephen Shoemaker, who came to the Colorado Rockies organization in a trade with the New York Yankees, has an unusual fashion affectation. He paints his right shoe black for luck.
LENGTH: Short : 46 linesby CNB