Monday, June 3, 1996

Hot Dogs continue winning ways

By LANCE FLEMING
Staff Writer

It was a day for the bullpen Sunday at Scott Field.

Long reliever Lance Schuermann got the start and four other Abilene relief pitchers shut down Alexandria as the Prairie Dogs beat the Aces, 2-1, in front of 818 fans.

The Prairie Dogs took 3 of 4 games from the Aces to run their record on the current 14-game homestand to 6-2.

Schuermann got the spot start in place of scheduled starter Sam Arminio, who was scratched because of a sore throwing (right) elbow.

But Schuermann did the job for six innings before exiting in favor of Troy Hirsch. Schuermann gave up one run on four hits of quality work.

Hirsch then came into the game in the seventh with the Dogs leading 2-1 and immediately set down the first two men he faced. But then Rick Bender singled and Frank Turco and Marvin Cole walked to load the bases.

Hirsch then went 2-0 on Kyle Shade when Abilene manager Phil Stephenson pulled Hirsch.
"I wanted Hirsch to finish the seventh," Stephenson said. "But for whatever reason he lost it and couldn't find the plate."

So Stephenson made the move to Mike Hartung, who entered with the Dogs in hot water.
But he threw a strike past Shade and got him to foul off a pitch to run the count to 2-2. Shade then hit Hartung's third offering toward the hole between first and second base for what appeared to be a basehit that would at least tie the game at 2-2.

But second baseman Eric Gonzalez dove for the ball, came up with it and easily threw out Shade to get out of the inning.

"I saw Eric going and I thought at the last minute that it might go through," Hartung said. "But then I saw him come up with the ball and I was so happy. It was a great play by Eric."

"I told Mike to just go right after the guy and throw it in the middle of the dish and maybe we can make a play," Stephenson said. "Then Eric makes a helluva play, and that was the ballgame as far as I'm concerned."

Hartung then got the first out of the eighth before giving up a single to Jay Andrews. Stephenson then pulled Hartung for Brian Dunne, who got Pat Dando to ground into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.

Ken Winkle then closed the door in the ninth, sending the Aces down in order to pick up his fourth save in as many chances.

The Aces jumped on top in the sixth inning when Schuermann gave up a walk to Shade and back-to-back singles by Joe Ronca and Andrews. The Andrews single drove in Shade, but Ronca was thrown out at the plate after two strong relay throws from Jason McClure and Scott Bethea.

Other than that, the Aces never really got to Schuermann, who picked up his first win of the season.

"Those guys are pretty free swingers, except for a couple of them," Schuermann said of the Aces. "I was effective out of the strike zone more than anything. The slider against the right-handed hitters really helped me today."

The Prairie Dogs then got their only two runs in the bottom of the sixth when Bethea singled and went to third on a Rod Brewer single. Paul Coleman then singled to drive in Bethea with the tying run and push Brewer to third. Coleman, however, was thrown out at second trying to stretch the single into a double.

Catcher Jack Johnson then came to the plate, and, with a 1-2 count, drilled a double down the left-field line that plated Brewer with the game-winning run.

"He (Alexandria pitcher Brannon Peters) threw me some good sliders in that at-bat," Johnson said. "I just wanted to make sure I saw the ball really well with two strikes. They moved the third baseman over about two feet to his left and I hit it where he moved from."

Until the sixth, the Prairie Dogs had just one hit off Peters, that a first-inning single by leadoff man Darryl Monroe.

"I try to be as positive with guys as I can," Stephenson said, "but after the fifth inning I jumped them a little bit. I didn't know if they thought the day off had started early or what. But I just told them we needed to get our bats going."

They did in the sixth, then turned it over to the bullpen.

"Everybody on this team knows his role," Johnson said. "We just keep finding ways to win, and we've got different guys stepping up every day."