Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991 TAG: 9103070142
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV7 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Long
The staff ERA hovers near a poor 8.80.
Four projected starters have been sidelined by injuries. Two of them may not play again this year.
Two more players, veterans both, are operating at considerably reduced power because of long-term bodily damage.
The Highlanders have been bombed for 62 earned runs, 88 hits, 17 homers and 53 walks in their first nine games.
The coach, Scott Gines, has lost his temper.
"There have been times that I wished to react in a forceful and autocratic fashion and I have done so," he said.
But he hastens to add that he has yet to totally go off the deep end.
"It has not been a gross display," he said.
The same cannot be said for the pitching.
First, the positive news: All pitchers have shown flashes of mound dexterity. Now the negative: only one of them for a sustained stretch.
The results include barrages that produced 27, 12, 11, and 10 enemy runs.
Gines is quick to defend his guys: "The scores have been misleading because we have been in those games but had the one inning that made the score look ugly."
What's really been ugly is the casualty list.
Phillip Haney, an outfielder who led the team with 42 runs batted in and seven home runs a year ago and was drafted by the San Diego Padres, has a wrist problem that nobody knows how long it will take to heal. Losing him for the season is not inconceivable.
Promising recruits Alex Vaxmonsky and Kenny Dawkins, who were expected to play shortstop, have both been hurt, Vaxmonsky with a sore arm and Dawkins with a broken hand. Among the residual effects of those sidelinings was the forced move of Todd Tortorici, probably the team's best pitcher, to shortstop.
Tortorici, who threw a no-hitter at George Mason last season, has as yet to throw the first pitch this year.
Tortorici is damaged as well. He's had hamstring problems but has played through them.
"Todd's done a tremendous job for us," Gines said.
Then there's Todd Smith, a freshman who figured to start at third base. He broke a wrist and hasn't played since the first game. Not surprisingly, with fill-ins or new people at third, short and second base, the defense has been less than stellar.
However, that may be changing. The infield of Dawkins at short, Rob Amos at second base, Galen Heidrich at third and Ben Chow at first turned a school record five double plays in a 14-3 rout of East Tennessee State this week. In the same game, right-hander Vic Hatcher, a Floyd County High alumnus, pitched eight strong innings.
Two of Radford's best players, catcher Travis Morgan and right-handed pitcher Jeff Altergott, are seniors who are shadows of what they once were. Both figured to be pro draft choices before their bodies betrayed them. Morgan has a bad back that hasn't responded to treatment as well as had been hoped and Altergott has had two elbow operations.
Morgan, who is Radford's career leader in home runs (21) and RBI (102), can be a designated hitter and a spot catcher. However, it does not appear he will be able to handle the rigors of full-time catching.
Altergott missed the entire 1990 season with his elbow woes after recording four wins and three saves in 1989.
"Neither of them is able to play the same role that he once did," Gines said. "That has to be devastatingly frustrating for them."
John Gegg, a sophomore, has been playing a lot of catcher. Last year, he batted .269 and stole 10 bases in as many attempts while playing both outfield and catching.
The hitting could be very good. In addition to Morgan, who has been slumping, good things are expected from the likes of Gilbert (11 homers, 43 RBI in 1989); Chow (.355, 55 hits, 26 RBI, 29 walks in 1990); outfielder Donnie Just (.274, 51 hits in 1990); and freshman DH Alex Van Pelt (.500, six RBI in five games).
The pitching clearly needs some polish, though. Right-hander Chris Connolly is the staff's hardest thrower. He had a four-hitter in a 9-1 victory over Bucknell this year. Pete Malvasio has thrown reasonably well but Hatcher and right-hander Russ Schellhase have been spotty.
So far, the team ERA is approaching the all-time highs in NCAA history. Only four teams have topped 10.00 for a season, the king of the armless ones being the 1981 VMI squad that maxed out at 13:50.
Gines ought to know something about that. He was the Keydets' best hitter that year.
The encouraging point is that Radford played all but two games on the road against very sound competition. Western Carolina, for example, has been to the NCAA regionals five of the past six years.
"I'd rather not play as many good people on the road this early in the season," Gines said. "But we have to upgrade the schedule and the only way to do that is to play early in the year in the deep South."
Gines has recruited well, too. Radford beat out North Carolina State, Georgia, and Auburn, among others, for Vaxmonsky. Van Pelt, who accepted a football scholarship to Kansas before being released by his request after an injury, turned down baseball offers from Oklahoma State, Miami, North Carolina State and North Carolina.
Despite the early season struggles, Radford has designs on the Big South Conference championship and the corresponding berth in the NCAA tournament. The Highlanders have finished second each of the past two years.
Said Gines: "The hardest thing is going from being second in the conference to being a consistent contender."
by CNB