Tuesday, September 17, 1996

Prairie Dogs complete remarkable turnaround
By AL PICKETT
Sports Editor

It was only fitting that Barry Jones and Troy Dean Conkle were among the heroes of Sunday night's Texas-Louisiana League Championship Series-clinching victory for the Abilene Prairie Dogs - but for entirely different reasons.

No one appreciated the remarkable turnaround by the Dogs this year more than Jones.

He's the only player on this year's team who spent the entire 1995 season in Abilene, a year in which the Dogs won a league-low 40 games.

"Last year's team had only a couple of guys stand out," Jones said. "This year, it was nine guys every night. It's easy to play when it's someone different every night. It was great teamwork."

It was Jones who stood out during the league championship series, however, sharing series MVP honors with teammate Manny Gagliano. Jones went 6 for 21 at the plate with three home runs and five runs batted-in during the postseason.

He had the game-winning RBI in two of the three championship series victories over Lubbock. Jones' RBI single in the 11th inning of Game 1 gave the Dogs a 5-4 win. And his two-run homer in the sixth inning put the Dogs on top 10-8 Sunday, en route to a 12-8 victory over the Crickets.

Oddly enough, it's the second time in Jones' career that he has had a game-winning homer in the deciding game of a championship series. In 1989 his home run in Game 4 of the International League Championship Series clinched the title for the Richmond Braves, Atlanta's Triple-A affiliate.

Conkle, on the other hand, was one of the most recent arrivals in Abilene. He was obtained in a trade with Tyler in July so that he could be in Abilene after being hired as Britt Bonneau's assistant baseball coach at Abilene Christian University.

"It was a blessing to get the job, and I have to thank Phil (Stephenson, Abilene's manager) and Dave Hilton (Tyler's manager) for working out a trade so I could be here."

Conkle, who said he had never played on a professional championship team before, came in to relieve Lance Schuermann in the sixth inning and promptly picked a runner off first base for the final out. The score was tied 8-8 at the time.

Conkle hurled scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth inning before giving way to closer Ken Winkle in the ninth.

The win (just the second of the year for Conkle who was 1-0 with one save during the regular season after joining the Prairie Dogs) came in Conkle's final professional appearance.

"I hadn't even thought about the win until somebody just mentioned to me a second ago that I was the winner," he said. "When I came in, I just wanted to keep us even. But yeah, this win is the last one for me. This is the most gratifying experience."

Conkle appreciated joining a team in midseason which set a league record with 67 victories and won five straight postseason playoff games. But only Jones truly appreciated the sharp contrast of the past two baseball seasons in Abilene.