ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, April 18, 1996 TAG: 9604180070
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
THE FORMER CAVS QB makes a name for himself on the baseball field in a 2-1 victory over the Virginia Tech Hokies in Salem.
Any questions about Symmion Willis' baseball ability were answered emphatically Wednesday night.
Willis, who quit Virginia's football program in the fall when coach George Welsh said he couldn't play quarterback, smacked a towering tying home run as Virginia nipped Virginia Tech 2-1 in 10 innings before a crowd of 1,527 at Salem Memorial Stadium.
Willis' UVa football career might be dead, but his baseball career is alive and well, thank you. The 6-foot-4 senior has the tools to play long after leaving Charlottesville in his rear-view mirror, said Cavs assistant coach Kevin O'Sullivan.
``Symmion just keeps getting better and better every day,'' O'Sullivan said. ``Heck, he's been out of the game since high school basically. It takes time, believe me, to get it back. But by being a quarterback he was a great athlete, and great athletes usually make the transition a little easier than normal people
``He has great power and speed. He's definitely a [pro] prospect.''
Any scouts in attendance Wednesday night had to be impressed. Willis' 400-foot-plus blast off the Miller Lite sign in left - any ball hit off the sign that protrudes over the left-field wall is an automatic homer - was one of the longest shots in the stadium's short history.
Willis doubled, lined out hard to center and walked in his other three at-bats.
Willis ``surprised us a little bit,'' said Chuck Hartman, Tech's coach. ``We didn't think he was one of their threats and we got caught with our pants down. He hit the ball hard all three times.''
Willis' prodigious blast off Tech starter Brian Fitzgerald tied the score at 1 in the seventh. The Hokies had taken a 1-0 lead on Kevin Kurilla's run-scoring single in the fourth.
Tech (23-17), which saw its four-game winning streak snapped, stayed in the game with some clutch pitching by Fitzgerald, who spaced eight hits over nine innings, and great defense. The Hokies, working the relay to precision, cut down two UVa runners attempting to stretch doubles into triples.
Virginia (26-15), which is 11 games over .500 for the first time in 25 years, won it against Hokie reliever Steve Schulze, who replaced Fitzgerald to start the 10th. Schulze was greeted by Adam Robinson's long double - his third hit in four trips. After getting two out and walking Justin Counts intentionally, Schulze hung a pitch to pinch-hitter Pat Bransford, who ripped a 335-foot single off the right-field wall to plate Robinson.
``When I was starting quarterback in football, I never beat 'em, so it's kind of great for me,'' Willis said. ``Yeah, this makes up for it ... just a little bit.''
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS STAFF Virginia's Symmion Willisby CNB(21) beats the tag of Virginia Tech third baseman Chad Foutz.
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