THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030623
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
There is supposed to be something magical about baseball's opening day. Princess Anne's John Abelon captured it perfectly last week.
Abelon, a junior first baseman, bashed a pair of three-run home runs, walked twice and scored three runs in the Cavaliers' 18-8 rout of Kempsville.
The home runs were his first since Little League and helped make him the The Virginian-Pilot's male Athlete of the Week.
High school heroics are nothing new for the Abelon family. John's brother, Pat, was a second-team All-Tidewater pick last season and is the starting shortstop this spring at VMI.
``It's very tough to follow him,'' John said. ``He's hit his share of home runs.''
Pat's reaction to John's big day: ``He was shocked,'' said the boys' father, Jake Abelon.
John Abelon, a stocky lefthanded hitter who bats fifth in the order, would seem perfectly-suited to Princess Anne's short rightfield fence. It's only 260 feet down the line and about 300 feet in the power alley.
But his hitting approach until now had been to wait on the pitch until the last possible second then flick it into leftfield.
A year in the weight room gave him the added strength and confidence to turn on the inside pitch - as Kempsville discovered.
The Chiefs walked Abelon his first two times up on pitches away. His third time up he faced a different pitcher.
``He threw me the first inside pitch I'd seen the whole game,'' said Abelon, who drilled it for his first three-run homer.
The next time up he took a fastball on the outside corner for a strike.
``A real good pitch,'' Abelon said.
The next pitch caught the inner-half of the plate and Abelon ate it for lunch.
``Yard,'' he said. ``I got that one pretty good.''
With his father manning the camcorder, Abelon slowly walked toward first and then went into a home run trot.
``I was pretty emotional,'' he said. ``It's probably the only time I'll hit two home runs in a game in my career.''
Abelon and the Cavaliers will have had two weeks off before their next game. They were rained out last Thursday and don't play again until Tuesday at Kellam.
Can Abelon make it three home runs in three consecutive at-bats?
``I really don't want to think about hitting a home run every time,'' he said. ``To me, home runs come on accidents. I just want to hit the ball hard and put it in play.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
John Abelon
by CNB