ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, April 26, 1997 TAG: 9704280008
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: RAY COX THE ROANOKE TIMES
Kelly Dampeer's statistics may not always be as good as he likes, but they won't get him down in the dumps.
Since he'd never had a bad season in baseball, infielder Kelly Dampeer of Radford University had something to learn about the proper response to such a distressing turn of events.
His rally wasn't long in the making. A significant number of pitchers have had since last summer to wish he hadn't been such a quick study in crisis management.
When you're Kelly Dampeer, who always walked infrequently and carried a big stick, a crisis is a 1996 season with a closing batting average of .310, six home runs, 27 runs batted in and 13 steals in 18 attempts.
The numbers were certainly nothing to be ashamed of. The only problem was, Dampeer had conditioned people to expect more inflammatory work with the bat.
Nobody knew it better than he.
``It was a down year for me,'' he said.
The ramifications were extensive. Perhaps the worst of them was his temporarily torpedoed professional aspirations. Dampeer was eligible for major league baseball's amateur draft. No teams called.
``Given the kind of year he had last year, I wouldn't have either, had I been a scout,'' Radford coach Lew Kent said.
Searching for a positive hidden in the clutter of his disappointment, Dampeer reminded himself that he still had another year of amateur ball in which to restore the shine to his baseball resume.
He's made the most of it.
``The Lord works in mysterious ways,'' he said. ``At least He always did with me.''
This past summer in the Valley League, he whacked the stuffing out of the ball, made the all-star team and subsequently earned most valuable player honors at the all-star game.
Then, during fall workouts at Radford, he applied the lessons he'd learned at the expense of Valley League pitching staffs.
``He had a great, great fall,'' Kent said. ``None of our pitchers could get him out.''
Such has been the lot of opposing pitching for the past four years. Dampeer will leave Radford with career records in home runs (35 at the end of this past week), doubles, and at-bats. He'll come close but probably won't make the mark for hits and runs batted in. Almost certainly he'll set a new standard for games played. At the end of this past week, he was three short of the ironman record.
Late in the 1996 season, Dampeer was moved from shortstop, where he'd played throughout college, to second base.
``It was good for me because it saved some wear and tear on my body and gave me the opportunity to concentrate on hitting,'' he said.
The wear and tear factor was no small matter. Ever since high school at Northside, Dampeer had been going almost nonstop. He played baseball, basketball, and football in high school and as such was in almost perpetual athletic motion.
``I really took a beating,'' he said. ``Lots and lots of bumps and bruises.''
Still, he played. The pace didn't let up once he got to college. Baseball at this level is almost a year-round proposition with summer ball and fall ball to go along with the regular season. Winter doesn't offer much of a respite because there is weightlifting and hitting in the cage on a regular basis. The season starts in February.
Dampeer thinks he'll be drafted this June, but he harbors no illusions. College seniors who are drafted have no bargaining power once their college eligibility has expired.
``The money won't be there for a signing bonus,'' he said. ``All I want is a chance. Whoever takes me is going to be lucky. They're going to get a ballplayer they didn't expect.''
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WENDY GREGG/RADFORD UNIVERSITY. By switching to secondby CNBbase, Radford's Kelly Dampeer has been inflicting wear and tear on
opposing pitchers. color.