THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 19, 1995 TAG: 9504190564
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
Pitching in Triple-A is not as easy as Bill Pulsipher is making it look. Trust the tales of the countless strong-armed wonders who have been buried, never to grace the Baseball Encyclopedia, by the leap to the minor leagues' top step.
So all Pulsipher, the Norfolk Tides' lefthander who won't turn 22 till October, did Tuesday afternoon at Harbor Park was move to 3-0 and lower his earned-run average to 1.18 in a deceptively easy 11-1 whipping of the Columbus Clippers.
Pulsipher tacked a five-hit, one-run gem over eight innings to his complete-game two-hitter he tossed last Thursday in the Tides' home opener. The only thing that prevented Pulsipher from making it two consecutive complete games was his teammates' seven-run eruption in the eighth that took 29 minutes. That was too much time in the dugout for Pulsipher to risk cranking up his golden arm once more for a meaningless inning.
The rout - which featured eight Tides extra-base hits, and was accomplished with hot rightfielder Chris Jones on the bench with a pulled groin - was stoked by leadoff man Jarvis Brown. Brown had four of the Tides' 14 hits, including two triples and a double, scored four runs and knocked in three. All the RBIs came in the eighth when his second triple cleared the bases.
The centerfielder, Brown also tripled and singled in his last two at-bats Monday, and so is 6 for his last 7 to raise his batting average from .200 to
``I'll take the triples, the line drives,'' said Brown, who failed to hit for his first cycle. ``Home runs, two or three of those will come. (The cycle) would have been nice, but I'll take what I got.''
A slight adjustment in his stance, Brown said, has fueled his surge.
``I closed up a little bit so I can see the pitches better,'' he said. ``A lot of things don't happen overnight, but it seemed like that did.''
With his wealth of advance praise, Pulsipher has hardly crept up on his terrific Triple-A beginnings. Jittery in his debut, Pulsipher walked six in six innings in a victory over Charlotte, but has walked just three since.
Tuesday, Derek Jeter and Tony Perezchica, Columbus' first two hitters, fought off inside fastballs for opposite-field singles, and the Clippers scored when Billy Masse grounded into a double play. But after another single in the second, Pulsipher retired 10 in a row before two more singles started the sixth. He fanned Jeter, though, and got Perezchica on a double-play ball to kill that threat.
Meanwhile, the Tides had taken a 4-1 lead off veteran Dave Eiland with two in the fifth on Brown's bloop triple, Jeff Barry's double and Frank Jacobs' single. The lead ballooned in the eighth on five extra-base hits.
In that inning alone, the Tides (8-4) might have hit more balls hard than Rochester and Columbus (6-6) did against Pulsipher's wicked darting deliveries his last two starts.
``After spring training, when I struggled a little bit, I didn't know what to expect during the season,'' Pulsipher said. ``But (pitching coach Bob Apodaca) just told me to stick with it, that with a lot of hard work and confidence it can turn around just like that, and that's exactly what happened.
``The last two starts, there's not much more you can ask for. I'm still not satisfied, I'm never satisfied, but I'm definitely pleased with the way things are going.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff
Carlton Fleming, left, Billy Masse and Don Sparks were unable to run
down Jarvis Brown's triple for Tides.
by CNB