THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996 TAG: 9606050550
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMI FRANKENBERRY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 43 lines
Sophomore Chip Runyon propelled Nansemond River's baseball team into the state tournament with his right arm, tossing a three-hitter in a Region I playoff game last week. Tuesday night, Runyon helped the Warriors advance using his bat.
Runyon's line drive double with two out in the sixth inning gave Nansemond River a 1-0 victory over Western Albemarle in a Group AA state quarterfinal. The Warriors (20-4) will visit Region II champion Broad Run, a 7-6 winner over York in another quarterfinal, on Thursday. Western Albemarle ended its season at 22-3.
After Nansemond River's J.C. Caperton and Larry Artis popped out to open the sixth, John Drames drew a walk and stole second. Clean-up batter Mike Byrum was then walked intentionally to bring up Runyon, who had struck out with two men on in the first. Runyon hammered the first pitch from Jason Beale over the fence on one hop for a ground-rule double to score Drames.
``He just gave me a fastball and I was looking for it,'' said Runyon, who struck out 11 in a 4-2 victory over Park View on Thursday. ``After what happened in the first inning, I wanted some revenge to get that run home.''
Runyon's hit spoiled the performance of Western Albemarle pitcher Jason Beale (11-1), who gave up just two hits and struck out five.
Nansemond River got its own solid pitching from Grayson Craun, who made his first start since spraining an ankle two weeks ago. Craun (7-1) struck out 13 and walked two in pitching a complete game three-hitter. The senior left-hander shook off a slow start and retired 11 of the last 13 batters he faced.
``I was worried about (the injury) in the early innings,'' said Craun, who improved to 20-1 in his career. ``It was kind of affecting my pitches, but I decided to deal with the pain and said, `You'll feel it later.' ''
Craun, who walked two and threw 57 pitches in the first three innings, worked out of jams in the second and fourth. In the second, Chris Sandridge walked and Seth Kalinsky singled to right with two out before Craun struck out Jason Barnett on a 2-2 fastball. Beale and Sandridge reached on errors to start the fourth, but Craun got Frank Zadlo on a sacrifice bunt, struck out Kalinsky and retired Barnett on a fly ball to center. by CNB