ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, June 27, 1996 TAG: 9606270027
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
TYPE: HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS
SOURCE: CHAD WILLIS STAFF WRITER
New River Valley Yankees baseball coach Danny Evans has told his players on many occasions that the adjustment from high school to American Legion competition could at times be a difficult one. After losing their first five games and six of their first seven, the Yankees are starting to understand why.
"It has been disheartening for some of the boys because most of them were stars on their high school teams and aren't used to losing a lot of games," Evans said. "A lot of these kids just didn't play against this level of competition with their high school teams and it takes a while to adjust and get used to playing with one another."
The Yankees have had their problems early on with hitting and fielding, batting a collective .215 and committing 24 errors on the season - trends Evans attributes to having to replace 11 players off last year's 10-8 Blue Ridge District runner-up squad.
"We pull from eight schools for this team, so yes, we have a lot of players, but we haven't had a lot of time to come together," Evans said. "Teams like Franklin County, Martinsville and [defending champion] Halifax County only have one or two high schools, so they play together all the time. We lost a lot from last year's team and they all return strong teams."
The 1996 edition of the Yankees includes Ben Brown, Chris Hutchins, Josh Stephens and Neal Mustard of Giles; Auburn alums Pete Bucklin and Bradley Hudgins; Radford's Derek Englehardt and Hart Fowler; Jason Dalton, Robert Favre and Jason Williams of Floyd County; Pulaski County's Shane Callahan, Caleb Hurd, Steve Owen and L.A. Woods; and Tom Yancy from Blacksburg.
"We've got the four best players from a Giles team that went far in the state tournament and we picked up Pulaski County this season," Evans said. "We've got a lot of good ballplayers and I would expect that by the end of the season we'll be competitive with anybody. Our record may not show it, but we'll be right there."
Brown has been the hot man at the plate for the Yankees, including a 4-for-4 performance in Saturday's 13-1 victory against Salem that raised his average to .556.
"Ben has been giving it his all every time out," Evans said. "He hasn't let the team's bad start get him down. He's just been crushing the ball."
Favre has been the ace of a pitching staff that numbers 11, Evans said. In the victory over Salem, Favre, in his third season with the Yankees, threw just 67 pitches in the complete game victory.
"Favre always throws better in Legion ball than he does in high school," Evans said. "He looked great in the Salem game. He got the job done and didn't waste anything."
Evans added that Stephens has also shown flashes of brilliance on the mound, but has had a difficult time with run support from his own team.
"Josh has thrown three games for us and looked good ... we just can't hit the ball to help him out," Evans said. "He had a 3-0 lead going into the sixth inning against Martinsville. They scored three on him that inning then got one in the seventh to win 4-3, but they're one of the toughest teams in the league and he was shutting them down."
Evans tabbed hot-hitting Franklin County as the team to beat, but added the return of several key Yankee players from vacation and 11 games remaining on the schedule give his team enough time to gel and make a late-season charge.
"This is my 10th season coaching the team," Evans said. "I've only had two losing seasons and I've come close to winning the league a couple of times. I think this team has the players to be able to pull it all together and be competitive down the stretch."
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. New River Valley Coach Danny Evans sendsby CNBChris Hutchison home during last year's game against Roanoke South.
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