THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 1, 1995 TAG: 9504010392
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Short : 43 lines
The calendar attested that it was early spring as First Colonial's baseball team opened its season Friday at Cox High School.
But there were witnesses who swore they saw signs of Winter. Some would even say there was Frost on the grounds.
The Patriots' David Winter and Nate Frost each drove in a pair of runs as the top-ranked team in South Hampton Roads posted a 6-2 Beach District victory.
Their exploits made a winner of Jamie Booth and turned Cox's Jason Dubois into a hard-luck loser.
``If they've got a No. 2 and a No. 3 pitcher to go with Dubois, then they are legitimate contenders,'' said First Colonial coach Norbie Wilson. ``I knew he was good, but he was better than I thought.''
Dubois, a 6-foot-4 sophomore righthander, went the distance for the Falcons, giving up eight hits.
``He's young, but he's got some tools and he's the guy who's going to carry us,'' Cox coach John Ingram said. ``If we'd have just made a couple plays here and there . . . ''
Some shaky moments by Cox in the fourth and timely hitting by First Colonial were the difference.
Nursing a 3-2 lead, the Patriots' Jason Bozard and Greg Lang both walked with one out. When Steve Tyler laid a sacrifice bunt, Dubois and third baseman Aaron Strausbaugh crossed signals on who should field it, loading the bases.
Winter then punched a run-scoring single through the right side of a drawn in infield and Frost laced a two-run single to center.
``It was then or maybe never,'' Frost said. ``We had to get it done.''
Booth went five innings, striking out seven, before giving way to reliever Steve Johnson.
The Falcons loaded bases with two out in the bottom of the seventh. But Johnson struck out Strausbaugh to end the game. by CNB