Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 10, 1993 TAG: 9308100140
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Let us count the ways:
The two Carolina League teams delivered a composite three home runs, five doubles, two triples, 24 hits, three stolen bases, two sacrifices, two sacrifice flys and a runner nailed at the plate, and they did so with a strike zone that shrunk like a cheap shirt at a low-rent laundry Monday night at Municipal Field.
What didn't happen in this wild night at the old ballyard?
"Well, I didn't see a triple play," Bucs pitching coach Dave Rajsich said. "And nobody pulled the hidden-ball trick. Anything else?"
Picky, picky. But somehow happiness was salvaged for the homeboys when, after blowing a four-run lead and falling a run in arrears, Salem rallied to win 8-6 before 1,620 patrons.
The biggest hero turned out to be the smallest Buc, 5-foot-9, 165-pound shortstop Kevin Polcovich. He delivered a two-run triple in the bottom of the eighth to snap a 6-6 deadlock. Polcovich had hits in his final two at bats and ended with three runs batted in.
"I looked pretty bad the first couple of times so I told myself I'd have to bear down in my last two at bats," he said. "[On the triple] I knew that [pitcher Danny Johnston] was going to try to get ahead with runners on first and second. He threw me a fastball on the outside part of the plate and I got some good wood on it."
The Bucs put a lot of good lumber on the ball, 15 hits worth. Leadoff man Jeff Conger had three hits, including Salem's other triple, and Joe Ronca was one of four players with two hits. Ronca, the subject of a national news story Sunday for his part in a fistfight at Frederick last week, homered and doubled, driving in three runs.
Ronca's two-run homer in the second off Lynchburg starter Gettys Glaze was the centerpiece of the Bucs' four-run inning.
"First-pitch fastball," Ronca said. "Not much to say about that one."
Ramon Espinosa also homered, a solo shot in the fourth, and made the game's biggest defensive play in center field when he robbed George Scott of a two-run dinger in the seventh by leaping high on the wall.
"I didn't see it," Bucs manager Scott Little said. "I was out of the dugout yelling at the umpire."
There was a lot of that from Little, third base coach Paul Noce, and assorted Bucs who apparently disagreed with the strike zone presented by plate umpire Jerry Lloyd. Bucs catcher Marcus Hanel was dismissed for expressing his views.
"I finally was just throwing the ball to let them hit it and hope that it stayed in the ballpark," said Bucs starter Michel LaPlante.
\ BUCSHOTS: Marc Pisciotta pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save. He has not allowed a run in his 9 1/3 innings since arriving from Augusta. . . . Ronca said the televised story of the fight on George Michael's Sports Machine, which said one of the reasons behind the hostilities was ill feelings because of a common romantic interest, was incorrect. "That wasn't it at all," he said.
\ see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB