ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 14, 1996 TAG: 9605140061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
FRANKLIN COUNTY dumps Terriers 5-1 to avenge earlier loss in baseball.
Franklin County dumps Terriers 5-1
The important concept for Franklin County High School in its second baseball meeting with William Byrd was not revenge, it was sweep, or more specifically, avoid the sweep.
"We talked to them about how we never want to lose a series to somebody,'' Eagles coach F.L. Slough said.
The Eagles won't have to worry about that this year after beating the host Terriers 5-1 on Monday to avenge the only setback of the year.
The game was the continuation of one that had started Saturday before being rained out in the middle of the first inning before the Terriers had come to bat.
The pitching matchup Monday was the same as had started in the first game, undefeated Brian Strong of Franklin County tangling with Parker Humphries. Strong got the better of this one, winning his sixth straight, all complete games.
Strong, a tall and angular right-handed junior, scattered four hits and got away with all his bad pitches (if there were many) save for one. That was the one that sophomore Ross Blankenship hurriedly rerouted out of the ballpark in the seventh for his first home run of the year.
"It was a good pitch,'' Strong said. "I just got it up a little.''
Other than that, all the Terriers could manage was three hits. Strong fanned eight, including striking out the side in the seventh. Strong bolstered his cause with a pair of runs batted in, one each in the third and the fifth.
Strong denied that he had additional motivation simply because the foe was Byrd, the only team to have knocked off the Eagles this season.
"Just another game to me,'' he said.
Strong is in the regular Eagles pitching rotation, unlike his Byrd counterpart.
"We used one pitcher who hadn't pitched [Humphries] this year and another [Brian Jones] who only has four innings,'' Byrd coach Rodney Spradlin said. "Our catcher [Blankenship] has only played a little bit behind the plate. We think they did great.''
Franklin County (14-1) got it started in the second. Shawn Ferguson had a one-out double, took third on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error on the pitcher. Gray Hodges plated the second run with a sacrifice fly.
The last two runs came in the fifth. Ashley Moore singled and scored on a double. With one out, Strong hit into a fielders' choice, scoring a run to make it 5-0.
"This year we've had a sound defensive team and the pitching has been good,'' Slough said. "The hitting, we're working on. This was a big game for us, playing under the lights against Byrd, which always plays well. We expect to be in the region and this has shown us some things.''
LENGTH: Medium: 61 linesby CNB