ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605230035
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: COLLEGE NOTEBOOK
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
Virginia Tech baseball signee Todd Zirkle is putting up the kind of numbers that are almost as extraordinary as those compiled in football by his Powell Valley High School classmate, Thomas Jones.
Zirkle was a first-team All-Group A selection as a junior, when he was 13-2 and had a 1.83 earned-run average, with 169 strikeouts in 103 innings. This year, with coach Jim Kelly trying to develop some younger arms, Zirkle enters postseason play with a 6-2 record and 1.56 ERA.
Zirkle, a 6-foot-2, 205-pounder, has 357 strikeouts in 232 innings for his career. He recently pitched a no-hitter against traditional Lonesome Pine District power J.J. Kelly of Wise.
``What do I like about Todd Zirkle?'' Tech coach Chuck Hartman said. ``Number one, he's left-handed. Also, he has a lot of movement on the ball. He's not an absolute blazer, but, with the movement, it has the same effect as somebody who's throwing it 90 [mph].''
Zirkle made all-district last year as a pitcher and outfielder and is batting .335 this season for Powell Valley, which made the Group A final in 1993 and the semifinals each of the past two years. He also plays football and basketball and was named first-team All-Group A as a punter.
Zirkle has shared athletic laurels with Jones, a high-school All-American in football who finished his career as the No. 2 rusher in state history. Jones does not play baseball.
Zirkle is one of three spring signees for the Hokies, who added right-handed pitcher Robbie Simms from Brooke Point High School in Stafford and first baseman Nick Perlozzo of Sayre, Pa., a nephew of ex-Lynchburg Mets manager and current Baltimore Orioles third-base coach Sammy Perlozzo.
GRACIOUS HARTMAN: Hartman, still feeling the sting of back-to-back losses to Massachusetts in the Atlantic 10 tournament, said he planned to send a congratulatory telegram to Virginia's baseball team and his friend and rival for 16 years, UVa coach Dennis Womack.
``Dennis Womack has paid his dues,'' Hartman said. ``I know this might sound strange coming from Virginia Tech, but I don't know how I could have been happier for anybody, unless it had been us.''
The Hokies (35-24) would have joined the Cavaliers in the NCAA Tournament if they had split against UMass in the A-10 tournament. Tech had played in 11 doubleheaders and not lost more than one game in any of them before falling to the Minutemen 5-2 and 8-2.
``You get to the finals and can't win one of two, who do you blame?'' Hartman said. ``We had [Sean] Hummel going [in the opener] and he hadn't lost in the A-10 all year. I thought we were home free. We just never hit in the clutch the whole time.''
Hartman, accustomed to crowds of 3,000 or more when the Hokies played in the Metro Conference, said he was disappointed by the attendance at the A-10 tournament, held 45 minutes from Philadelphia in Boyertown, Pa. Few of the games drew more than 250 or 300.
NEVER TOO LATE: One of the best stories surrounding Virginia's ACC championship baseball team involves senior pitcher Craig Zaikov, who was 7-1 as the Cavaliers' No. 4 starter, including an 8-4 victory over Georgia Tech in the ACC tournament.
Zaikov, from Cresskill, N.J., was the Cavaliers' back-up catcher for two years before he was moved to pitcher, a position he had not played since his freshman year in high school. He went 4-1 last year as a junior, with all four victories after April 4.
Zaikov was under the impression he would pitch Saturday night, so he called home. His parents drove all day to Durham, N.C., only to learn Zaikov had pitched in the 11 a.m. game, ``but they were able to watch us win the championship,'' he said, ``so, it was worth the trip.''
IN THE ACC: North Carolina State basketball coach Herb Sendek, turned down by Virginia Tech assistant Chris Ferguson, has added former Pittsburgh point guard and assistant Sean Miller to his staff. It will be interesting to see what becomes of Miller's brother, Arch, who had committed to the Panthers.
LOCAL UPDATE: One-time William Fleming basketball standout Jermare Crump has accepted a grant-in-aid to Gardner-Webb University in Boiling Springs, N.C. Crump, a 6-4 wing player, averaged 17 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists this year at Seminole (Fla.) Junior College.
nAnother William Fleming product, Bluefield College guard Keath Hampton, was named freshman of the year in the Tennessee-Virginia Athletic Conference. Hampton averaged 13.6 points, with a high of 43, as Bluefield reached the NAIA Tournament and finished 22-12 under third-year coach Walt Ayers, once the coach at Franklin County.
EX-CELTIC COMMISSIONED: Philip Buchy, one of the leaders of Roanoke Catholic's state-championship football team in 1994, has received a commission to the Air Force Academy after starting nine games at tight end last year for the Air Force Academy Prep.
Buchy (6-feet-4, 220 pounds) played center for Catholic and was a two-time private-schools all-state selection, as well as a second-team All-Timesland choice in 1994 as a senior. Boston College was so impressed with him as a deep snapper that it was prepared to offer Buchy a grant as a specialist.
HITTING THE BOOKS: VMI was recognized this week for finishing first in the Southern Conference with an 83-percent graduation rate for student-athletes entering in the fall of 1988 and graduating by August 1994.
The information is submitted a year before the Southern Conference announcement, so VMI knew it would be near the top. Nevertheless, it was a vast improvement over last year, when the Keydets ranked seventh in the conference with a 55-percent graduation rate.
LENGTH: Long : 101 linesby CNB