ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 5, 1996 TAG: 9605070023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
In a very real sense for Brent Crowther, pitching to a Class A baseball team with an eight-game losing streak was a far more worrisome and vexing proposition than facing a well-compensated lineup that included the likes of Dante Bichette, Larry Walker and Andres Galarraga.
The Lynchburg Hillcats, the team Crowther faced Saturday night before 2,964 Memorial Stadium patrons in a 2-1 victory, are scarier than the Colorado Rockies?
``There was no pressure throwing against the Rockies,'' said Crowther, who pitched to parent Colorado in an exhibition game Monday. ``If I got hit hard, I was supposed to get hard.''
The Rockies didn't hit the whippersnapper from Vancouver, British Columbia, hard as he beat the big-league club 2-1 with 5 2/3 innings of two-hit scoreless ball while in the service of Class AAA Colorado Springs.
The Lynchburg Hillcats didn't hit him hard Saturday night, either.
The sixth inning, when Lynchburg produced its first and only run, broke a string of scoreless innings by Crowther that started with his eight scoreless frames against Kinston on April 23.
That was part of the challenge for him. The Kinston start was the last, serious, put-on-your-game-face Carolina League action he'd had.
``There's a whole different kind of pressure in a league game,'' he said. ``Pitching against Colorado was like a vacation. We [the Avalanche] haven't had a day off yet. It was fun for me to see what pitching to those guys would be like.''
Just like it'll be when he sees players of that caliber every day in the big leagues. Continued outings such as Sunday's eight-inning, seven-hit strangulation of the Hillcats would seem to bring that day closer than ever.
Bill McGuire, Salem's manager, thought Crowther wasn't as crisp as usual.
``That's sad, isn't it,'' McGuire said. ``The guy goes eight innings, he gives up seven hits, and he strikes out four, and we say he's off. Maybe we expect too much.''
You can't expect any more than 3-0, which is what Crowther's record is after Saturday's victory. Jeff Sobkoviak pitched a quiet ninth to record his first Salem save.
Lynchburg lost a club-record ninth consecutive game as Salem maintained its perch atop the league's Southern Division standings. The Avalanche has won nine of its past 11 games.
Spoiled was a splendid effort by Lynchburg hurler Kane Davis, a blade of a West Virginia right-hander. Davis scattered five hits while going the distance.
``He had a good moving fastball and he kept the hitters off-balance with the off-speed stuff,'' said Salem shortstop Kyle Houser, whose two hits led the Avalanche. ``He threw a lot of ground balls.''
``Davis did an excellent job,'' McGuire said. ``Very good control, and a very good two-seam fastball. He kept getting them looking away, then he'd bust them inside. He really knew what he wanted to do out there.''
A 1-1 tie was snapped in the sixth inning and it all started when Houser slapped a one-out single. John Giudice followed with a slicing, opposite-field double that pushed Houser to third. Nate Holdren then followed with the go-ahead sacrifice fly to deep center.
``We did a very good job with situational hitting tonight,'' McGuire said. ``Holdren is a potential double-play guy, but he goes up there and hits the long fly ball to get the run in.''
That's the way it goes as you're accumulating a league-best 19 victories.
``We're finding ways to win,'' Houser said.
The same way that Lynchburg (10-18) is finding ways to lose.
``This is a better club than it's shown,'' said Jeff Banister, Lynchburg's manager. ``This thing will turn around if we make it turn around. If we don't, we won't.''
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 linesby CNB