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PJC bats explode in 13-12 slugfest for split of twinbillI By JOHN A. MOSELEY ; Sports EditorParis Junior College's Dragons ! found the hitting which had seem-l ingly forsaken them in recent ; games Thursday afternoon,■ salvaging a split with Eastern Oklahoma’s Mountaineers with a; wild 13-12 nightcap win in non-' conference JUCQ baseball action.: “We (the coaches) had a feeling; that this one would be a slugfest,”• PJC’s Larry Click said after wat-. ching the Dragons score two runs ; in the bottom of the nightcap’s final ; frame. “We’ve played so many• games lately, that we didn’t have much pitching to call on, and theyI- were in the same position. Of 1- course, I think this one got a little £ crazier than any of us expected,” After having squandered a ! superb pitching prformance by ; freshman John Marlow in a 5-4 ; opener loss, the Dragons shook the .cobwebs off their bats in the finale and promptly gave Mesquite ; • sophomore Todd Ritter an 8-0 lead.; - Ritter, who would not figure in •t the decision, tossed four innings of i near-perfect baseball before sur-; rendering his first hit to the Moun-; taineers in the fifth. The only ; blemish in those first four innings -• came when Eastern's Mike Mur-j phy reached base on an error ; charged to Dragon third baseman; Richard Tuite,Owning an 8-0 lead, Ritter had ! hopes of retiring the Eastern side in the fifth and getting two runs : from his teammates for an early 1 win on the 10-run rule.But the Mountaineers had other ideas after having finally zeroed in i on Ritter’s off-speed repitoire. The■ result was a seven-run Eastern• blitz that did not end until Click was forced to replace his starter with Arlington freshman Philipi[ Irby.; The Dragons, who had capitaliz-; ed on the inability of Eastern’s Chuck Hammons to throw strikes ; in building their early lead with ; five runs in the second and three ; more in the third, came up with ! three runs in the bottom of the fifth 1 to increase their edge to 11-7.! Leftfielder Stu Graham initiated ! the fifth-inning rally with a lead-off ; single and moved to third when• shortstop Mitchell Moon added ‘ another single.Graham scored a few minutes , Hater when Hammons uncorked a ; 'wild pitch with Tim Petty at the ; plate. Petty followed with another• single, advancing Moon to third.' Moon scored on another wildpitch, and Petty capped the inning by scoring on a balk charged to the Mountaineer hurler.Undaunted, the Mountaineers retaliated in the top of the sixth, scoring two runs when Irby — who has spent much of the season sidelined with injuries — began to experience control problems.They added three more in the top of the seventh, taking their first lead of the game at 12-11.But the bottom half of the Dragon batting order again proved to be a problem, as Graham led off by drawing a base on balls and moved to second on a single by Moon. Petty laid down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners before Eastern issued an intentional walk to catcher Trae Fowler, loading the bases.The Mountaineers had opted notto pitch to Fowler, after having been burned when the freshman receiver belted a three-run homer in the bottom of the third.But centerfielder Roy Gilbertfollowed by rapping a single to plate Graham, and Tuite made up for his earlier error with a shot that sent Mountaineer outfielders to the fence in right-center and made it a simple matter for Moon to score from third.Tuite finished the finale with three hits in five trips to the plate and three RBIs for his trouble.In the opener, Marlow turned in an impressive showing, giving up six hits, walking three and striking out five. None of Eastern’s five runs were earned, all coming as the direct result of PJC errors.In addition, the Dragons failed to provide Marlow with run-scoring aid — leaving five runners stranded on the base paths.However, the PJC lineup began to show signs of what was to come in the seventh when designated hitter J.D. Gardner ripped a lead-off single and scored on a one-out double by Moon. Catcher Scott Sulser added another double to plate Moon, but the Dragon rally ended when winning pitcher Jeff Childers managed to gel Gilbert and Tuite on fly outs, preserving the win.The Dragons resume Texas Junior College Baseball Conference play Saturday, seeking to improve upon a 4-6 league mark, when they travel to Lufkin for a 1 p.m. twinbill with Angelina's Roadrunners. Following that road trip, the PJC squad will return home fora twinbill with Texarkana College, slated for a 1:30 p.m. Monday start.
Newspaper Details
Paris News
Paris, Texas, US
Fri, Apr 19, 1985
Page 16
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
TN, USA 24 Aug 2020
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