DATE: Friday, June 6, 1997                  TAG: 9706060856

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C5   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BRIAN J. FRENCH, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   41 lines

GODWIN'S QUICK RUNS ENOUGH TO END WESTERN BRANCH YEAR BRUINS SHUT DOWN IN THE STATE BASEBALL QUARTERFINAL DUEL.

The high-school baseball season in South Hampton Roads is over.

Central Region champion Mills Godwin, behind the masterful pitching of Tommy Edelblut, knocked Western Branch out of the Group AAA tournament with a 2-0 win Thursday on their home field.

Edelblut threw a two-hitter, striking out eight while retiring the last 12 Bruins batters. Only one Western Branch baserunner reached third.

``Teams from . . . down there have always been good,'' Edelblut said. ``I'll remember this win for al long time.''

And if you take away first five batters faced by Western Branch's James Fticsar, the two teams would probably still be playing to a scoreless tie this minute.

Fticsar struck out 12 batters, including the side in the first two innings. He gave up five hits.

But three of them came before he registered an out.

Fticsar gave up a pair of singles in the bottom of the first and Eagles third baseman Brock Lawson hit a line-drive double into left-center field, scoring Luckie Dacosta. Then, after intentionally walking catcher Brian Copeland, Fticsar walked Michael Fullan with the bases loaded to score David Henshaw.

After the shaky start, Fticsar warmed up, and quickly, holding Mills Godwin scoreless the rest of the way.

But it turned out the game had already been won and lost.

``I knew I needed to warm up some, and calm down,'' Fticsar said. ``Unfortunately, that didn't happen until the sixth batter.''

``(Fticsar) was forcing me to pitch better,'' Edelblut said. ``I thought two runs wouldn't cut it they way he was pitching.''

Mills Godwin hosts Lee-Davis in a rematch of the Central Region finals tonight at 7:30 p.m.

This wasn't the first time that a state tournament ended for the Bruins at Mills Godwin. Western Branch lost to eventual state champion Clover Hill in 1994 at the Godwin field.

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