THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, April 14, 1995 TAG: 9504140558
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
A lineup of hot bats met a staff of tired arms with predictable results Thursday as Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, South Hampton Roads' fourth-ranked team, peppered visiting Catholic High, 14-2.
With undisputed first place in the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools on the line, Catholic turned to staff ace Andrew Prickett. But the senior righthander, who hadn't pitched in two weeks due to a sore shoulder, failed to make it out of the first inning.
Prickett, who lost his first decision after three victories, gave up three sharp singles, walked three other Saints and gave way to reliever Mike Holdcroft with the Crusaders trailing, 5-0.
``We've really been hitting great as a team - in practice and in games,'' said Saints leadoff man Ryan Blythe, who opened with a sharp single to center and delivered a three-run home run in the fourth, closing out the scoring and putting the TCIS's 10-run rule into effect.
``Prickett's always been a good pitcher, but we took him out of it early today.''
Prickett said he'd hoped to go ``three or four innings'' but the shoulder was too tender.
``The rest of the staff is overworked right now,'' Prickett said. ``I was trying to gut it out.''
The Crusaders (8-3 overall, 3-1 in the TCIS) had played six games in nine days without the pitching services of Prickett.
``We've just got tired arms. Why'd the rain quit?'' said Catholic coach Jerry Carmody, who had hoped for a rainout after the previous night's hard showers. ``We're not out of this by any means. We've just got to get our arms back.''
Nansemond-Suffolk (8-1, 2-0), meanwhile, was displaying its top arm. Mark Fowler limited Catholic to two fourth-inning singles as the Crusaders cut the Saints' lead to 7-2 and had the bases loaded after two Nansemond-Suffolk errors and a hit batsman.
But Fowler got Jeff Graves to pop out to end the threat and the Saints responded with seven fourth-inning runs, with Blythe's shot to right-center as the capper.
Fowler needed just four pitches in the top of the fifth to end it.
``Mark showed why he's one of the best players in Tidewater,'' Saints coach Bill Harris said. ``He just beared down and got it done.'' ILLUSTRATION: MICHAEL KESTNER
Staff
Kyle Snow of Nansemond-Suffolk Academy, right, slides home safely as
Catholic's Andrew Pickett reaches for the ball.
by CNB