DATE: Wednesday, March 19, 1997             TAG: 9703190701

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ROBIN BRINKLEY 

        STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: CHESAPEAKE                        LENGTH:   68 lines

SMOKIN' WILDCATS UNDER FIRE . . . AND ARE LOVING IT BASEBALL SCOUTS WILL BE KEEPING A CLOSE EYE ON 2 GREAT BRIDGE PITCHERS WHO THROW IN THE 90S.

No baseball team in Virginia will be under the gun this spring more than Great Bridge. Under the radar gun, that is.

The Wildcats' John Curtice, a lefthander, and Mike Cuddyer, a righthander, both throw in the 90s.

That combination, rare for one high school team, according to Pittsburgh Pirates scout Bobby McKinney, has made Great Bridge a Top 20 pick by Baseball America and USA Today as well as a popular destination for major league scouts and college recruiters.

``At our first scrimmage last week there must have been 15 or 20 scouts shooting radar guns at the pitchers,'' Great Bridge coach Greg Jennings said. ``It's been tough. What's good pressure for one kid is bad for another.''

The pressure is just starting to build, says McKinney, who two years ago signed former Western Branch lefthander Jimmy Anderson. Anderson is considered one of the Pirates' top prospects.

When Great Bridge faces Cox and its ace Jason Dubois on April 2 in the Beach Blast tournament there could be 100 ``baseball people'' there: scouts, national crosscheckers, scouting directors, maybe even a general manager, McKinney said.

``It's going to be a circus and it hasn't even started yet,'' he said.

Cuddyer was clocked at 91 mph with the Junior National team, but he is so valuable defensively that Jennings hopes to pitch him only in relief.

A shortstop by trade and a hitter by nature, Cuddyer is the most acclaimed amateur baseball player from this area in decades. He slugged 13 home runs and drove in 50 runs in only 61 at bats last spring then toured Cuba with the U. S. Junior National team before signing in the fall with Florida State.

It's hard to imagine Cuddyer repeating those power numbers - even harder to imagine pitchers giving him the chance.

``I'm just going to look for my pitches and, if they are there, do my best to hit them,'' he said. ``My main focus isn't on duplicating last year. I just want to help the team.''

Curtice hasn't enjoyed the buildup that Cuddyer has received over four varsity seasons, but his immediate pro prospects might be greater. That's partly because he hasn't qualified academically for freshman eligibility at an NCAA institution and his options could come down to attending a junior college or turning pro.

Curtice was 7-1 with 89 strikeouts in 49 innings last season and the extra hop on his fastball this year could bump him into the first three rounds of the draft.

``You look for improvement from season to season, from spring to summer, and from summer to fall and John has shown that,'' McKinney said. ``He has that hard fastball he can run in on a lefthander's fist and as he adds to his breaking ball he'll be hard on righthanders.''

As good as Cuddyer and Curtice are Great Bridge isn't a two-man team. Senior outfielder Bradford Tibbs and junior catcher Brian Anderson are considered college prospects and they won't lack exposure playing beside their more coveted teammates.

``I can't think of one pro team that hasn't called,'' said Jennings, whose team will open the season Friday at Western Branch. ``Trying to work through the publicity from the rankings and the scouts definitely has been tough.''

Not as tough, however, as coaching from the other dugout. ILLUSTRATION: MORT FRYMAN/The Virginian-Pilot

[Color Photo]

The pitching combination of righthander Mike Cuddyer, left, and

lefthander John Curtice have made Great Bridge a Top 20 high school

pick by Baseball America and USA Today.

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