THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, July 14, 1995 TAG: 9507120153
SECTION: CHESAPEAKE CLIPPER PAGE: 22 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, CLIPPER SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
Paced by the solid hitting of Chesapeake's Tony Moore, the Virginia Heat 15-Under AAU baseball team claimed the state title in a tournament at Virginia Wesleyan College June 30-July 3.
The Heat, in their first year of existence, advanced to the AAU National Tournament, being held Aug. 5-12 in Millington, Tenn.
Moore led the team with a .625 batting average in the tournament, with nine RBI. Brian Anderson, also from Chesapeake, hit .500 and had six RBI.
Suffolk's Mike Byrum drove in six runs and had an on-base percentage of
Virginia Beach's Pat West, Josh Claypool, Shawn Baxter, and Jeff Alberts, Ray Long and Craig Sizemore of Chesapeake, all had on-base percentages of
Starting pitchers were Anderson, Byrum, Alberts, Chesapeake's John Curtice, and Virginia Beach's Nate Story and John McLaren.
The Heat opened the tournament with a 12-6 win over the Virginia Stars. The team fell into the loser's bracket by dropping a 7-2 decision to the Virginia Jazz, plagued by errors despite a three-hitter by the Heat pitchers.
The team rebounded with an 8-2 win over the Manassas Thunder, setting up a rematch with the Jazz.
A total team effort was needed to dispatch the Jazz, but the Heat prevailed with a 10-4 win. With one loss each in the double-elimination tournament, the two teams met again in a winner-take-all final, and the Heat won the state title with another 10-4 win.
The Heat are managed by Dave Alberts and Gary Moore, with additional coaching by Bob Moro and Larry Amorosso.
Other players on the roster include Claudell Clark, Demarco Chesson, Bobby Moro, Ricky Stephenson and Stephen Allison of Chesapeake, and Andre Corpuz, Joe Amorosso and Eric Souza of Virginia Beach.
The Heat's players and coaches traveled to Winter Haven, Fla., July 5-10, for some rest and relaxation, as well as a few exhibition games in preparation for the national tournament. by CNB