ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 1996 TAG: 9605220026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
The midweek buffet:
Four of the eight teams in the NCAA Division III baseball championships, which start Thursday, visited Salem last year. As to whether the field is deeper, one certainly is - the one where the games will be played.
In one way, it's a long drive from Municipal Field to Memorial Stadium.
Last year, the 15 games in Salem's first Division III series included 34 home runs at short-porched Municipal. Although it's a metal-to-wood bat comparison, in 23 Avalanche home games this spring at Memorial, the Carolina Leaguers have hit 12 homers.
NO GEMS: The reference point on Avalanche left-hander Mike Vavrek's no-hit bid Friday night at Memorial is that there is none.
This is Salem's 29th Carolina League season, and no pitcher for a Salem franchise has pitched a no-hitter at home. There have been four on the road. The last no-hitter in Salem was a seven-inning perfect game by Peninsula's Tom Hart over the Pirates on June 2, 1979.
Vavrek finished with a two-hit shutout of Durham. The last Salem pitcher to hurl a home no-hitter was Bob Settle, against Bluefield on Aug.27, 1965, at Municipal Field, when the franchise was in the Appalachian League. That also was Settle's 18th birthday.
UNTIED: Although in different leagues, Virginia Tech and Virginia will be playing by the same rules when it comes to conference football tie-breakers for the Bowl Alliance.
The tie-breaker announced by the ACC last week was the same unveiled by the Big East Conference in April, using head-to-head competition and the average ranking combining the writers' and coaches' polls.
The only way a team losing the head-to-head matchup can go to an Alliance Bowl ahead of its conference co-champion is to be ranked more than five ``average'' poll positions ahead of the other school.
In other words, the Virginia-Florida State situation in the ACC last season would have played out the same. UVa won the head-to-head matchup, but FSU got the Alliance slot in the Orange Bowl because the Cavaliers were more than five poll spots below the Seminoles.
PIRATED: East Carolina's successful football program may have a shot at what it has needed most by the end of the week - a conference affiliation.
Conference USA will have six schools for its first football season in 1996, and this week at league meetings ECU could be invited to join, although no decision is expected until June.
The Pirates would stay in the Colonial Athletic Association for other sports. The USA football six are Louisville, Tulane, Houston, Cincinnati, Memphis and Southern Mississippi, most of which have been in a Liberty Bowl alliance with ECU in recent years.
SWINGING: An Atlantic 10 Conference official said Virginia Tech made informal inquiries before this week's league meetings about the Hokies playing host to the conference baseball tournament next season.
The Hokies have talked about a bid for Tech Park - which would need lights - or Salem Memorial Stadium as the A-10 site. The four-team tournament has been played in Boyertown, Pa., in recent years.
GOING UP: The roller-coaster ride for Virginia's athletic program continues. After a bad men's basketball season and arresting headlines, coach Jeff Jones' program signs two good big men to complete an impressive recruiting year.
The 41 victories, NCAA Tournament bid and first ACC tournament title in baseball probably are the most impressive accomplishments of the sports year at UVa.
Sure, the Cavaliers beat Florida State in football, but UVa has been more than respectable in the sport for a decade. The baseball program had been going nowhere.
CONSIDER: While the Roanoke Express should extend the contract of coach Frank Anzalone, there's a point of icy intrigue if it doesn't happen and Anzalone goes elsewhere.
Pierre Paiement, the Express' general manager, kept his job only after apologizing for having his hands in the development of the new ECHL club in Biloxi, Miss. Among the items Paiement was involved in was talking to Biloxi coaching candidates.
If Anzalone doesn't return, Paiement has those coaching contacts he made for Biloxi - ones that put him on thin ice a few weeks ago. Could he or would he use them?
LENGTH: Medium: 81 linesby CNB