THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 6, 1996 TAG: 9604060440
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Nick James had one word for the brisk wind blowing straight out at Greenbrier Christian Academy on Friday night.
``Scary,'' he said.
James, a senior lefthander, doesn't spook easily, however.
He kept the ball down, got ahead of the hitters and fashioned a six-hit shutout as the sixth-ranked Gators beat No. 5 Nansemond River 5-0 in the championship game of the Papa John's Pizza Invitational.
James struck out eight and threw only 34 balls among his 98 pitches. His two tournament wins earned him MVP honors and made him the area's first four-game winner.
``I felt real good,'' he said. ``My curveball was breaking a lot, and my changeup was moving and staying down.''
Even when James made a mistake, it didn't hurt him. Nansemond River's J.C. Caperton was tagged out at the plate by James when he tried to score on a pitch in the dirt in the first inning.
James twice retired the Warriors' No. 3 hitter, Lee Parks, with runners in scoring position.
``He had good command of his stuff tonight,'' Parks said. ``He earned the win.''
Greenbrier (11-1) scored the only run it would need in the first. Nick Huneycutt led off with a single, stole second and scored on Ross Robertson's double.
The Gators added two more runs in the third on Heath Burris' single through a drawn-in infield off Cody Flowers, who started in place of John Little, who injured an ankle Friday in gym class.
Flowers, who took the loss, gave up four runs, three earned, in four-plus innings for Nansemond River (5-1).
Greenbrier added single runs on a suicide squeeze by Jason Zemaitis in the fifth and a single by Honeycutt in the sixth.
In other tournament games:
Lake Taylor 12, Bishop Ireton 8: Vashaun Brown hit a grand slam in the eighth inning as the No. 8 Titans claimed third place.
Paul Jimenez hit three-run home runs in the third and sixth innings to help the Titans rally from an 8-0 deficit.
Chris David singled to lead off the bottom of the eighth. Jimenez then received an intentional walk and Robbie Hale drew a base on balls to load the bases for Brown.
Brian Fair (1-2) struck out three in three innings of relief.
Kempsville 17, Green Run 5: Nick Boyd hit two-run home runs in the third and fourth innings and Stephen Hatcher was 3 for 4 with three RBIs as the Chiefs won the fifth-place game.
Catholic 13, Norview 4: Roy Barry doubled twice, singled and drove in two runs and Mark Zagrocki fanned seven in his first start as the Crusaders finished seventh. ILLUSTRATION: HUY NGUYEN/The Virginian-Pilot
Nansemond River's Mike Byrum holds the ball aloft after tagging out
Greenbrier Christian's Ross Robertson, who was going for a triple in
the championship game of the Papa John's Pizza Invitational.
by CNB