THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996 TAG: 9606070604
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMI FRANKENBERRY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ASHBURN, VA. LENGTH: 57 lines
Questions about the Nansemond River baseball team's ability to hit and score runs were answered Thursday night.
The Warriors, who managed just one run on two hits in a quarterfinal win Tuesday, pounded out 13 hits and took advantage of five Broad Run errors to hammer the Spartans 12-1 in a Group AA state semifinal.
Nansemond River (21-4) will play in its first state championship baseball game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Bristol against Virginia High, a 5-4 winner over William Byrd in the other semifinal.
Each starter reached base for Nansemond River and five Warriors - J.C. Caperton, Larry Artis, Lee Parks, Evan Spivey and Cody Flowers - had two hits apiece.
``Their pitching was about what we've been seeing all year. It was just one of those nights,'' said Spivey, who collected two singles and two RBIs. ``It was surprising the way we jumped on them.''
After two scoreless innings, the Nansemond River bats warmed up. In the third, Caperton led off with a triple over the rightfielder's head and Artis reached on a bunt. Artis stole second and Broad Run catcher Brian Bauder tried to pick off Caperton, who scored from third when the throw bounced into leftfield. John Drames then drove in Artis with a double before coming in on another throwing error by starting pitcher Sean Hainline (8-1).
Then in the fourth, the flood gates opened. The Warriors sent 13 batters to the plate, scoring seven runs on five hits, two walks and three errors.
Hainline was relieved by Dan Bowman after Spivey singled, Caperton walked and Artis had another bunt base hit. But Drames reached on an error and Byrum walked with the bases loaded. After another error, Grayson Craun hit an RBI single and Spivey drove in a run to chase Bowman. Flowers greeted Broad Run's third pitcher, Tom Cameron, with an RBI base hit to left, making it 10-0.
``We just put the ball in play and made them field it,'' said Warriors coach Phil Braswell. ``We put it all together. Everybody stepped it up and did their part.''
The third and fourth innings were more than enough support for Nansemond River's Chip Runyon (5-1), who pitched a complete game six-hitter, striking out four. The sophomore pitched out of a jam with runners on second and third in the first inning and didn't allow a run until the sixth, when pinch-runner Mike Ricucci came home on a double steal.
``It's a lot easier to pitch with all those runs,'' said Runyon, who walked one. ``The guys played great defense and you can't ask for any more than all those runs. We really came out to play tonight.''
The Warriors added a run in the sixth and seventh innings. Parks walked to open the sixth, moved to second on a bunt by Roger Carpenter before scoring on Flowers' single down the leftfield line. In the seventh, pinch-hitter Troy Smith had an infield single, went to second on Runyon's walk and scored on Parks' base hit up the middle.
Timothy Reilly and Adam Brown had two hits each for the Spartans (17-5-1). ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Huy Nguyen\The Virginian-Pilot
Lavigne, left, being greeted at home plate by teammate David Wilson,
also got the last nine outs as the Cox relief pitcher. by CNB