THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 9, 1996 TAG: 9606090183
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMI FRANKENBERRY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, VA. LENGTH: 63 lines
In the past two days, the Nansemond River baseball team endured a road trip that rivaled those of minor league teams.
So perhaps it was fate that the Warriors bid for the Group AA state title ended Saturday night in a stadium used by a minor league club of the Chicago White Sox.
Virginia High's first seven batters of the second inning reached and scored and the Bearcats never looked back in a 7-2 victory over Nansemond River in the state championship game at DeVault Stadium.
Virginia (21-7) earned its fifth state title and third in the last five years, while the Warriors' finished at 22-4.
Nansemond River starter Grayson Craun (7-2) walked the first two batters in the second before giving up a bunt base hit to Jon Hustad. Ben Walls followed with a line drive over Chip Runyon's head in left to score two. Hustad then knocked the ball out of Lee Parks' glove at the plate on a bunt before Nic Lively and Harry Anderson added RBI singles and also scored to make it 7-0 with no outs.
``I always try to get ahead with the fastball,'' said Craun, who last week struck out 13 in a quarterfinal, his first start since spraining an ankle. ``I couldn't get my breaking ball over for strikes and they put my fastball in play. They were hitting it and hitting it right. They were ready and it showed tonight.''
The Warriors, who traveled more than 600 miles in two days, made contact against Virginia's Israel Pope, pounding out 10 hits. But Nansemond River left two men on base in the second, third, sixth and seventh innings.
``He located the fastball pretty well, but we hit the ball,'' said Runyon. ``They just made the plays.''
Said Pope, who was drafted as a shortstop by the Florida Marlins in the Major League draft's 40th round: ``It was a big confidence boost when we got the runs in the second. I just tried to let them hit the ball and let the defense play behind me.''
With two out in the top of the second, Parks walked and Craun singled to left. But Pope got Evan Spivey on a fielder's choice.
In the third, J.C. Caperton singled, stole second, moved to third on a bunt and scored when Larry Artis got caught in a run-down between first and second. John Drames and Mike Byrum then walked before Runyon grounded out to end the inning.
The Warriors added a run in the sixth when Byrum and Runyon singled and Byrum scored on Parks' grounder. Scott Moore then grounded out with Runyon and Parks aboard. Cody Flowers and Larry Artis reached on singles in the seventh, but Pope got Drames on a grounder to first to end the game.
``We hit the ball good enough to put runs on the board,'' Warriors coach Phil Braswell said. ``The guys stepped up and tried to battle back, but (Virginia) was a good baseball team.''
Flowers came on in the second in relief of Craun and shut down the Bearcats. The junior right-hander used off-speed pitches to keep Virginia in check. Flowers gave up four hits, striking out one and got double plays in the second and third innings to get out of jams.
``Those helped tremendously,'' said Flowers of getting the double plays. ``That helped us to stay close in the game and kept them from getting any insurance runs.
Artis finished 3 for 4 with three singles, while Flowers added two base hits for the Warriors. Anderson, Hustad and Lively had two hits each for the Bearcats, who had just one extra-base hit. by CNB