ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 1, 1996 TAG: 9608010040
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: NEWPORT
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
Chris Hutchison found an expensive and time-consuming method of snapping out of a hitting slump.
Hutchison, the center fielder for the New River Valley Yankees American Legion baseball team, isn't much of an authority on sleepy bat syndrome. He hasn't had to put up with it much.
Earlier this spring, as Giles High was putting together the best season it has ever had, Hutchison was hitting the baseballs so hard they would have begged for mercy had they a voice.
Hutchison whacked eight home runs with his left-handed swing and batted over .400.
The Spartans went on to do well in the Group A, Region C playoffs, with Hutchison making essential contributions with both bat and glove.
When time came to play American Legion ball this summer, Hutchison was expecting a transition that would be all but seamless. Events didn't unfold quite as he expected.
Instead, the first few games of the season folded up his bat like an origami project.
"It was bad,'' he said.
Little did he know, but help was on the way. This he didn't find out for sure until he joined with some of his fellow Spanish students at Giles for a little excursion down to Mexico.
Maybe it was the sandy beaches at Cancun. Or perhaps it was the death-defying climb in triple-digit heat and dripping humidity up the jungle ruins of a pyramid where once human sacrifice was practiced.
Being in good physical condition helped prevent Hutchison from being a modern-day victim of the ascent.
"It wasn't that bad,'' he said.
Whatever it was, he returned home ready to hit. And hit he has, going 9-for-11 at one stretch shortly after his return. By the end of the regular season, he was carrying a .449 average that included 22 hits, among them five triples. Four of the three baggers came during one double-header.
"[New River coach] Danny [Evans] told me he'd never seen anybody hit four triples in one day,'' Hutchison said.
Hutchison has been an eye-opener for Evans in more ways than one.
"In 10 years of coaching this team, I've only had four boys hit .400,'' Evans said. "Ryan Brittle did it, Brody Smith did it, Leon Hopkins did it and now Chris.''
Hart Fowler, a second baseman from Radford, was hitting .387 for New River this year, but it hasn't exactly been a banner year for the team going into the start of the legion's Blue Ridge District tournament this week. The team started 1-13 before coming around a little at the end of the regular season.
Part of that has coincided with Hutchison's hot streak upon his return from south of the border.
"I don't know what happened; I just started hitting,'' he said. "Maybe I was worn out before and needed a break.''
That makes sense. Giles played 24 games, the most ever for the Spartans. The legion team began its season the same week the high school team was eliminated from the playoffs.
Hutchison may also have been helped by attending the Virginia Tech baseball camp. Coaches there spotted him opening his swing too soon in an attempt to pull outside pitches. Once that was adjusted, he was able to go to the opposite field much more readily.
"I hit one off the scoreboard at Salem Municipal Field by going the opposite way,'' he said. "I don't think I've ever hit one that far going opposite field.''
Nor has he ever had to go as far as Mexico just to find his swing.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: RAY COX/Staff. By the end of the American Legionby CNBbaseball season, Chris Hutchison was carrying a .449 average that
included 22 hits, among them five triples. color.