THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 25, 1996 TAG: 9605250737
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 52 lines
Greenbrier and Nansemond-Suffolk both moved to within a game of defending their state baseball titles Friday with semifinal victories in the Virginia Independent Schools Baseball Association tournament at Old Dominion University.
The four-time defending Division I state champion Gators cranked out eight runs in the first three innings and got a complete-game four-hitter from Nick Huneycutt in a 10-0 rout of Colonial Beach.
The Saints, 1995 Division II state champs, also got quality pitching, as sophomore Andy Dunn shut down Fuqua on two hits through five innings in N-SA's 10-5 romp.
Greenbrier (27-3) will send 1995 VISBA state player of the year Nick James to the mound in today's 4 p.m. championship game against Covenant (17-2), the Charlottesville school which shocked previously unbeaten Hampton Christian, 4-3, in the nighcap of Friday's four-game set. Hampton Christian's 22-0 record going in included a 2-1 victory over Greenbrier.
Nansemond-Suffolk (17-7) will meet Collegiate (Richmond) in the Division II title game at 1 p.m. Collegiate reached the final by blanking Hargrave Military, 7-0. Ace Mike Johnston, the winning pitcher in the 1995 VISBA title game, gets the start for N-SA.
Greenbrier's seven-hit attack Friday was led by Heath Burris, who went 2 for 2 Friday with 3 RBI and broke the game open when he ripped a first-pitch fastball into the right-centerfield gap for a two-run triple during the Gators' fourth-run second, followed by four in the third. Meanwhile, Colonial Beach could do nothing against Huneycutt, who struck out seven.
The Gators' sharp, focused play contrasted sharply with their pre-game infield practice, which was so sloppy coach Gary Lavelle pulled his team off the field.
``He took us down the right-field line, and I guess you could say he gave us a talking-to,'' Burris said. ``Then the captains stood up and said a few things, and then we went out and played the way we know how to play.''
Like the Gators, the Saints also struck quickly in the semifinals and had a 3-0 lead through three innings. The Falcons responded by putting runners on second and third with one out in the fourth, but Dunn fanned opposing pitcher Joe Martin and shortstop Brian Gray swinging on curveballs in the dirt. Gray reached first and a run scored when the third strike squirted past catcher David Putnam, but an unfazed Dunn struck out Whitney Southall looking to end the threat.
The Saints scored four in the fifth on Mike Vizcaino's RBI single, Paul Fleming's suicide squeeze and Joby Webb's two-run single. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
HUY NGUYEN/Virginian-Pilot photo
Greenbrier's Nick Huneycutt, who threw a four-hitter, puts the tag
on a Colonial Beach runner trying to score. by CNB