Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 21, 1993 TAG: 9305200220
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-12 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Ray Cox
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When somebody says, "Wow, he really booted that one," at a baseball game, be assured that the statement won't be delivered in admiring tones.
As a matter of fact, among the the few times that feet ought to come into serious play on a baseball diamond is when some klutz trips over his own while chasing down a fly ball, or when an addled coach sticks one in his mouth in animated conversation with an umpire.
So what is a baseball player to do when one of his most refined skills involves the use of one of his feet?
In the case of Wayne Caldwell of Blacksburg, he puts the skill in cold storage until the season passes and hopes he can make use of it again sometime.
Caldwell, you see, can whack and throw a baseball with decided flair, but he also has been a punter of considerable merit for the school's football team.
Caldwell makes no secret of his primary allegiance to baseball. But so, too, does he like to kick the stuffings out of a football.
It is his fondest hope that he will be able to continue both activities after he shelves his mortarboard and shucks his gown and bolts for the world beyond Blacksburg High later this spring.
Lucky (talented, actually) strapper that he is, those wishes just may come to fruition.
For sure, it seems that more baseball is in his future. Now it seems as though his retirement from organized football may, too, be delayed. Concord College in West Virginia, in its wisdom, is one place that has concluded it can get a two-for-one deal if it can lure Caldwell to its Athens campus.
Caldwell admits that the notion intrigues him. So too does an offer from Ferrum, but that seems to involve mostly baseball.
Thus, Caldwell has a choice to make (others may be forthcoming). And after much deliberation, the answer (for the time being) is . . .
"I'm leaning toward Concord," he said. "Ferrum wants me to come play baseball, but I haven't heard much from on them on football. Concord says I can do both."
If he does both like he has at Blacksburg, then somebody will have a pretty solid two-sport guy. Caldwell usually booted footballs through the ozone for average distances approaching 40 yards. He also did a fair job of belting ball-carriers as part of his defensive duties.
As good as he was in football, in baseball he may be even better. Through 15 games, he was batting .386 with team-leading totals of five home runs and 18 runs batted in. This is his best season to date, which is one of the reasons that Blacksburg nailed down second place in the New River District regular-season standings. The league tournament starts Tuesday with the Indians playing No. 3 Christiansburg at Carroll County High.
"I'm concentrating a lot more on what I need to do," he said. "This is my senior year and I want to do well."
Most of the things he's done this spring, he's done well. That includes pitching, which had earned him a 1-3 record with three saves and 50 strikeouts. On occasion, he's also had to fill in at shortstop when the incumbent there, Brian Davis, is called on to pitch.
There seems little dispute that Blacksburg is better off when Caldwell is in the field as opposed to being on the mound, not that his pitching has hurt the Indians any.
"We're more solid when he's at third," Blacksburg coach Jim Shockley said. "He's a tremendous defensive player."
Yet it's his work with the bat that attracts an interested glance. Funny thing about it is, Caldwell rarely sees many good pitches to hit.
"Mostly off-speed stuff and curves," said Caldwell, who bats third in the lineup. "When they do throw me a fastball, they usually throw it outside."
That knowledge makes his statistics a lot more impressive. Caldwell made plate adjustments, including closing his stance more and standing farther back in the box.
Hitting home runs as well as he did may have hurt him for a while. He said that as much as he tried to suppress the notion, he couldn't stop thinking long ball every time up after he got his fifth homer.
"I went two for my next 14 after I hit my fifth," he said. "I had to sit down and tell myself to stay more focused and concentrate on hitting the ball hard. If I do that, then I know the home runs will come."
They have so far.
Ray Cox covers New River Valley sports for the Roanoke Times & World-News
by CNB