ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605200074
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
The delicacies being served at Salem Memorial Stadium this season include more than those on a plate.
Besides the buffalo, venison and even ostrich burgers that are available during some of the Salem baseball homestands, there's the sort of gourmet fare Avalanche left-hander Mike Vavrek fed the Durham Bulls off the plate Friday night.
Vavrek's two-hit, complete-game shutout of the Carolina League's most dangerous offensive team wasn't just the best of mostly outstanding Salem pitching seen at the Yard by the Boulevard in the first six weeks of the season.
It was one of delicacy.
Putting Vavrek's 10-strikeout gem into perspective, Salem hasn't thrown a no-hitter at home in more than two decades. The club's only no-hitter in 20 years was by Pittsburgh farmhand and Amherst native Randy Tomlin, in 1989 at Kinston.
Watching Vavrek baffle the Bulls was simple. Remember your first-grade reader?
See Spot. See Spot run (the fastball away). See Spot jump (ahead in the count). See Spot walk (to the dugout).
Vavrek, 22, was spotty all night. That's why he was so good. That's why, besides the 10 whiffs, he had the Bulls hit four come-backers and only four fly balls to the outfield.
Vavrek isn't going to overpower anyone, except with his guile. His curve and slider don't differ much. His fastball? Better than average, although sometimes - like one week earlier when he gave up five runs and eight hits in three innings at Durham - it's straighter than most of the letters in the name of his home state, Illinois.
``I don't remember when I've seen a better game,'' said Salem catcher Blake Barthol, who wasn't talking about his own three-hit night. ``Wherever I set up, I had the feeling Mike would be there.''
For the opener of a series that ends with the final scheduled afternoon game of the season today, Barthol and Vavrek were together on more than their flattop haircuts. So what was Vavrek using, besides a great change-up?
``How about a paint brush?'' Barthol said.
It isn't that Vavrek wasn't expected to throw one of the lowest-hit games in the home history of a franchise that had become accustomed to flyball dingers at oh-so-cozy Municipal Field.
The lefty was a fifth-round draft pick last year after pitching for Lewis (Ill.) University in the NCAA Division II World Series. In 22 career starts on three Colorado farms, Vavrek has a 1.91 ERA.
Salem manager Bill McGuire called Vavrek's game ``the most in-control performance of the season,'' and he could have meant that in more ways than one.
He kept watching Vavrek buffalo the Bulls, and blinking, thinking perhaps it was the sort of performance he'd expect against a club more like his, one with 33 fewer homers than Durham, which leads the minors in going deep this season.
Vavrek's previous high in a game was 90 pitches. And when he reached the late innings of what would be a hot, 115-pitch night, McGuire turned to pitching coach Billy Champion and asked about the lefty's gas gauge.
``Champ is real good about opening my eyes sometimes,'' McGuire said. ``He said if Vavrek were a power pitcher, he would be losing more on a hot night. But a guy like Vavrek, it's not like that.''
Champion keeps a binder full of facts and figures on each of his pitchers, but some of the numbers he doesn't always buy. Told Vavrek's two-year ERA was under 2.00, Champion nodded, but told the rest of the story.
``Mike's able, when he's good, to get guys to chase pitches,'' Champion said. ``He gets them to chase him out of the [strike] zone when he's behind in the count, and when he's ahead ... he makes them chase the pitch he wants.
``He uses a hitter's aggressiveness against him.''
Yes, it was as wonderfully spotty a performance as Salem baseball has seen in years.
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines KEYWORDS: BASEBALLby CNB