THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996 TAG: 9606010376
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMI FRANKENBERRY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 40 lines
The Nansemond River baseball team didn't want to see York spoil another chance at a championship. The Warriors, who lost to the Falcons in a Bay Rivers District semifinal last week, made sure of that in the fifth inning of Friday night's Group AA, Region I title game.
Nansemond River scored four runs, two on a home run by J.C. Caperton, in the fifth to break open a close game and win their second straight region title 9-3.
The Warriors (19-4) will host the Region II runner-up in a state quarterfinal Tuesday, while York (13-8) visits the Region II champion.
Caperton's sixth home run of the year, which followed a two-run single by Evan Spivey, broke a single-season school record, and chased the Falcons' second pitcher, George Weidinger, who came in with Nansemond River leading 5-3.
``I've been trying to get fastballs,'' said Caperton, who drilled the first pitch from Weidinger over the left-center field fence. ``A lot of coaches tell you to take the first pitch, but after that I've been seeing a lot of off-speed stuff.''
Junior Cody Flowers (3-1), making only his second career start, scattered three hits in throwing a complete game for the victory. He walked two, struck out two and hit two batters before retiring the last seven he faced.
``I was pretty nervous coming in because this was such a big game and I felt like I had a lot of pressure on me,'' said Flowers, a junior righthander. ``I tried to keep the ball down and really wanted my defense to help me out.''
Nansemond River scored in each of the first three innings. Larry Artis had two singles, walked once and scored two runs, while Flowers and John Drames added RBIs.
York starter John Coleman (3-2) was knocked out in the fourth, when he gave up two walks, an infield hit to Artis and Flowers bunted in a run. Drames then walked with the bases loaded.
Thomas Strachan had a two-run double in the third, while Chris Gentrup added a run-scoring single in the fifth for York. by CNB