ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 9, 1996 TAG: 9605090083
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
Business clearly is not going well when the company vice president feels compelled to make apologies for stopping by the job sight.
The Prince William Cannons swept the host Salem Avalanche by scores of 5-1 in the first game and 4-1 in the second as 1,205 sullen Memorial Stadium customers looked on grimly Wednesday night.
That was good for the Avalanche's season-high third-straight loss, a result that sent Colorado Rockies vice president for player personnel Dick Balderson into the office of Avalanche manager Bill McGuire with a sheepish look on his face.
``Moose, I've come in here and destroyed your ballclub,'' Balderson said.
Whether it was the pressure of playing in front of the boss or simply the arrival of an awkward slump, the Avalanche hasn't looked this out of sorts in weeks. Perhaps the entire season.
A combined five hits in two games gives an indication of the distress the home team is in right now.
``It's a matter of hitting a lull,'' McGuire said. ``Nobody is swinging the bats well, maybe with a couple of exceptions. But it's like I told the players, this is no time to panic. Panic leads to confusion and confusion leads to failure.''
There was no confusion about the source of the problem in the second game. His name is Erik Desrosiers, one of Prince William's right-handed pitchers who had bad memories of his last Carolina League start, also his first. Desrosiers began the season at South Bend of the Midwestern League, going 3-0 with a 1.75 earned run average.
``My first outing here, I was terrible,'' he said. ``I had been nervous, and all my pitches were up.''
Desrosiers had ample cause for bad nerves Wednesday as well. His father, Norman Jr., and grandfather, Norman Sr., were in town from Phoenix.
``I wanted to have a good outing while they were here,'' Desrosiers said. ``If I hadn't, it would have been embarrassing.''
The only blemishes on the younger Desrosiers' work, as it turned out, were a pair of doubles, the first of which came off Will Scalzitti's bat for a run-scoring double in the fourth inning.
None of that hurt too much because the Cannons were getting to Avalanche starter Doug Million. Either that, or he was inflicting his own wounds with six walks.
Coupled with the first game triumph, this was the fifth time in six meetings the Prince William has pinned Salem's ears back this year.
Most of the damage in the first game happened in the fourth inning. Luther Hackman started the game for Salem with a 3-1 record and 2.15 earned run average, but he didn't look like himself, particularly in the third and fourth innings, when he gave up seven of the eight hits the Cannons had against him.
A sacrifice fly by Brandon Moore and a run-scoring double with two out by Dan Kopriva in the third staked Prince William to a 2-0 lead.
Salem halved the deficit in its half of the inning, Elvis Pena's sacrifice fly delivering the run.
Prince William (15-17) responded in the top of the fourth with three more runs. Hackman gave up four consecutive hits, including a two-run homer by Juan Thomas and an RBI single by Ben Boulware before McGuire decided he'd seen enough and summoned Stephen Shoemaker from the bullpen.
Shoemaker quieted matters from there, but the offense failed to close the gap. The Avalanche stranded seven, five of those coming when Nate Holdren struck out to end the third and the fifth innings.
Salem, which had a half-game lead over Durham in the Carolina League's Southern Division standings to start the night, lost for the fifth time in the past 10 games.
SNOWBALLS: First game starters Russ Herbert of Prince William and Hackman were both in the league's top-five in walks issued with a combined 37 base on balls. In Wednesday's game, they had two each and Herbert went the distance. really helped keep us in it,'' McGuire said.
LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: PAUL L. NEWBY II STAFF Salem's Chan Mayber lashes aby CNBsingle during the second game of Wednesday night's doubleheader
against Prince William at Memorial Stadium. The Cannons continued
their domination of the Avalanche with a sweep. color KEYWORDS: BASEBALL