ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, August 22, 1996 TAG: 9608220033
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
As Nate Holdren sped around the bases for the last time, it was as if he was taking a victory lap as a reward for two seasons of toil in the Carolina League.
On a night supposedly reserved for Bill Swift's last game in Class A ball, Holdren found out he was getting a promotion, too, just moments after his eighth-inning, inside-the-park home run lifted the Salem Avalanche to a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Durham Bulls on Wednesday night.
Holdren and Salem pitcher/Holdren roommate Matt Pool learned after the game that they were being promoted to the Class AA New Haven (Conn.) Ravens of the Eastern League. Neither will play tonight and both will report to the Ravens on Friday.
``That's everybody in our apartment,'' said Holdren, whose other roommate, John Giudice, was called up by New Haven on July 29.
Holdren's last at-bat in a Salem career that spanned two seasons and two ballparks ended with one of his most memorable hits - a 400-foot blast to straight-away center field leading off the eighth with the score 3-3.
Holdren sped around to second and expected to hold there, not realizing Durham center fielder Miguel Correa had injured himself when leaping into the wall and was lying on the warning track. Holdren was waved to third by manager Bill McGuire and then homeward well before the ball could be retrieved.
``I saw it hit the wall and I took kind of a false step heading to second,'' said Holdren, a 6-foot-5, 245-pound first baseman and former Michigan linebacker. ``I started to stop and saw Moose [McGuire] waving me in. I was tired, short of breath. Anybody would've been, big or small. It's a good thing I had three outs to recover.''
It was certainly the fastest of his 16 home-run trots this season. The homer made a winner of Mike Vavrek (10-6), who pitched four innings in relief of Swift.
Swift, the Colorado Rockies right-hander who has been in town for nearly a week to get in two rehabilitation starts, would've been the loser had Salem (23-32) not rallied from a 3-0 deficit. Swift, who was on a 60-pitch limit, allowed seven hits and three runs, all earned, in tossing 55 pitches over four innings.
Two months after arthroscopic shoulder surgery, Swift was around the plate with his pitches but was concerned with his velocity. His fastball, normally in the upper-80s, hovered around 85 mph for much of the night. Still, after having thrown just 3 2/3 innings in the big leagues this season, he was pleased with his two Salem outings - six innings, nine hits, four runs (three earned), four strikeouts and one walk.
``I'm here to work on my stuff,'' said Swift, a sinkerball specialist. ``I feel I had pretty good control, I was real pleased with that. This is really like spring training for me. I'm just feeling myself out and building my arm strength.''
Swift will fly to Denver today to meet with Rockies general manager Bob Gebhard and will probably report to the Rockies' Class AAA club in Colorado Springs.
The 1,939 fans allowed Salem to attain another single-season attendance record. The crowd broke the 1994 mark set by the Salem Buccaneers and gives the Avalanche a grand total of 153,732 paying customers this season. If they expected to see five well-pitched innings, they got it - from Durham's Kevin Millwood, who pitched five no-hit innings before Pookie Jones' swinging-bunt single followed by Garrett Neubart's triple.
SNOWBALLS: In a little less than two seasons in Salem, Holdren batted .264 (223-for-844) with 31 homers, 133 RBI, 40 doubles and two triples. ... Pool, who was 5-6 this season, was 14-15 with a 4.74 ERA in two seasons with the Avalanche.
Please see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines KEYWORDS: BASEBALLby CNB