The Virginian-Pilot
                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, June 23, 1995                  TAG: 9506210198
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS      PAGE: 15   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY JULIE GOODRICH, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   96 lines

BLASTERS WIN 13-UNDER AAU TITLE PORTSMOUTH PLAYERS LEAD TEAM TO BERTH IN NATIONAL TOURNEY.

Paced by the torrid hitting of two Portsmouth players, Dennis Self and Phil Smith, the Virginia Blasters 13-under AAU baseball team claimed its second consecutive state title at Veterans Memorial Park in Woodbridge.

The Blasters notched a 4-0 record en route to the title, outscoring the opposition in the nine-team, double-elimination tournament, 49-7. The title earned the team a trip to the AAU National Tournament in Norman, Okla., the last week in July.

The Blasters opened the tournament with a 15-1 win over the Virginia Beach Sluggers. Suffolk's Chris Huneycutt started and got the win, pitching a one-hitter over 4 2/3 innings. He gave up one run and struck out four.

Self went 2 for 4 against the Sluggers and drove in three runs. Portsmouth's Casey Miller drove in two, and Chesapeake's Ronald Mickens and Steven Bettis each scored twice in the rout.

Next the Blasters scored a 11-3 win over the Virginia Stars. The Blasters trailed 2-0 after the top of the first but rallied to score five runs in the bottom of the inning and never looked back.

Self and Huneycutt both went 3 for 4 with two runs scored. Huneycutt and Chase Wilson of Chesapeake each had three RBIs, and Chesapeake's Brandon Floyd had two hits and two RBIs.

Newport News' Brandon Brothers stayed undefeated with six innings of work against the Stars, giving up three runs on nine hits, walking three and fanning five.

The Blasters began their winner's-bracket semifinal against the Woodbridge Generals on Sunday, but rain washed out play with only one inning in the book. When play resumed on Monday, the Blasters found themselves down 1-0, with the Generals at bat and the bases loaded with two outs.

Starter Lucas Wilkinson of Norfolk walked in a run to put Woodbridge up 2-0, but a great catch by Miller in left field ended the threat.

The Blasters were still scoreless going into the bottom of the sixth. Floyd and Chesapeake's Michael Nemcosky, both pinch hitting, walked to put runners on. An error by the Woodbridge catcher advanced the runners, and Floyd put the Blasters on the board by scoring on a wild pitch.

Huneycutt walked to put runners on the corners, and Mickens tied the game with a fielder's choice. Chesapeake's Rickey Henderson reached on an error by the third baseman that allowed the go-ahead run to score.

Self followed with an RBI single, and Bettis laid down a perfect suicide sacrifice bunt to give the Blasters a 5-2 lead.

Brothers completed the scoring in the sixth with an RBI fielder's choice, and Wilkinson set the Generals down in order in the seventh to cement a 6-2 win.

After the heroics of their semifinal match, the Blasters' performance in the final was merely routine. The Richmond Raiders played out of the loser's bracket and faced the Blasters with no pitching, losing 17-1 in a game called after six innings.

Huneycutt got the start but pitched only two innings, as Blasters manager Ted Daughtrey spread the work around. Huneycutt was credited with his third win, holding the Raiders hitless while striking out two.

Smith also pitched a hitless two innings, and Henderson gave up Richmond's only run during his two innings of work on a two-out single.

The Blasters offense pounded out 16 hits against the Raiders, led by Self's 4 for 5, four RBI, four runs scored performance. Smith, Floyd, and Miller each tallied two hits, and Brothers had a hit, two RBIs, three walks, and four runs scored.

For the tournament, Self led the Blasters with a .667 batting average and eight RBIs. Smith hit .625, and Huneycutt was second with five RBIs.

The Blasters' pitching staff had a team earned-run average of 1.81 and held opposing hitters to a .176 batting average.

Also on the Blasters' roster are Chesapeake's Matt Ames, Chris Daughtrey, Matt Fulford and Sean Townsend. Ted Daughtrey is assisted by Mickey Nemcosky, John Bettis and Glenn Ames.

The Virginia Blasters 12-under team made it two in a row over the Memorial Day weekend, claiming its second consecutive state championship in a tournament held in Virginia Beach. The same team won the 11-under state championship last year.

With the title, the Blasters (24-3) earned a trip to the AAU National Championship tournament August 5-12 in Burnsville, Minn.

The Blasters, managed by Allan Erbe and assistants Rob DeMara and Ron Smith, combined strong pitching (team earned-run average of 1.09) and defense with clutch hitting (.329 team batting average) to sweep their four games.

The Blasters notched first round wins over Deep Creek (11-1) and Richmond (4-0), the defeated the Virginia Beach Drillers, 9-4 and 4-1, in the semifinals and finals to win the tournament outright.

Jeff DeMara of Chesapeake led the Blasters' with a win and a save, yielding three hits over eight innings of work. He walked one and struck out 13.

Virginia Beach's Vince Sibal and David Wright led the Blasters' potent offense. Sibal hit .750 with nine RBIs, including a grand slam home run. He was retired just twice during the entire tournament.

Wright hit .727 with four RBIs and paced the team defensively.

Other area team members included Elliot Erbe, Marshall Graves, Ryan Crosby, Jason Moody, Matt Smith, Chris McKee, Alexander Comiskey, Chris Robinette and Jason Watson. by CNB