Saturday, June 8, 1996

It wasn't easy, but PDogs keep winning

By LANCE FLEMING
Staff Writer

It wasn't easy, but the Abilene Prairie Dogs are alone in second place and closing in on first.

The Prairie Dogs used a two-run home run by Manny Gagliano, a solid pitching performance from Sam Arminio and some gutsy relief work by Ken Winkle to take a 4-3 win over Lubbock Friday night.

The Prairie Dogs' victory in front of 1,283 fans at Scott Field pushed them to 12-7 on the season and into second place in the Texas-Louisiana League standings, one-half behind Amarillo, which lost to Tyler on Friday night. The Crickets, meanwhile, fell to 11-8 and into third place.

Abilene almost gave the game away in the eighth and ninth innings when an error led to a two-run homer in the eighth and a walk and a mistake on a sacrifice bunt gave the Crickets two runners on base in the ninth.

But the Prairie Dogs got out of both jams without giving up the lead to preserve their ninth home of the season.

Abilene took a 4-1 lead into the eighth before the Crickets closed to within 4-3.

Mike Hardge led off the inning by reaching on a throwing error by Gagliano. He then came around to score when Greg Sparks hit a two-run homer off Arminio.

"That error hurt a little bit," Gagliano said. "It came back to haunt us. Thank God the pitching came through for us."

Arminio settled down after the home run to retire Chris Norton, Glenn Sullivan and Jack Stratton to end the inning.

"Sam was coasting until the eighth," Abilene manager Phil Stephenson said. "Then we make a small error and he makes a mistake pitch and they're right back in the ballgame.

"I thought about taking him out of the game after the home run," he said, "but then he got Norton and we thought we'd let him go get the other two guys."

Winkle came into the game in the ninth and immediately walked Derek Vaughn to lead off the inning. Vaughn then moved to second when Paul Petrulis laid down a sacrifice bunt.

Winkle, though, threw to second to try and get Vaughn, but his throw was late and both runners were safe. David Lowery then laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third with one out.

But Winkle settled down and struck out pinch-hitter Scott Hoyes and Mike Hardge to end the game and nail down his league-leading fifth save.

Arminio exited after the eighth inning, but he had done enough to pick up his second win of the season. It was a good outing for the right-hander, who had missed his previously scheduled start with a sore throwing (right) elbow.

But he scattered eight hits over eight innings, walked just two and struck out four Crickets.

"I was hoping to go seven innings tonight," Arminio said. "I'm glad Phil had enough confidence in me to let me go eight. I made one mistake pitch and they capitalized on it.

"I finally felt like I could snap some pitches off out there without worrying that my arm would fall off," he said. "I thought I had good command of my pitches, and I was able to throw a lot of breaking pitches behind in the count and that kept the hitters off balance."

Arminio got some nice defensive help behind him, too.

Gagliano made a nice running catch of a popup in the second inning, and the Prairie Dogs turned a pair of double plays. The first one came in the first inning when the Crickets had the bases loaded.

The second came in the sixth with one out and Norton on first. John Stratton looped a popup into shallow center field that shortstop Scott Bethea, center fielder Darryl Monroe and second baseman Eric Gonzalez all converged on.

Bethea made a nice over-the-shoulder catch and then, from his knees, threw to first to get Norton to complete the double play.

Abilene took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Gagliano singled, went to third on a Rod Brewer single and scored on a Paul Coleman fielder's choice.

The Crickets tied the game at 1-1 in the third when Hardge doubled and scored on a Sparks single.
But Abilene regained the lead for good in the fifth when Gagliano drilled a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left field for a two-run homer that plated Bethea in front of him.

The Prairie Dogs made it 4-1 in the fifth when Brewer singled home Monroe. But before that happened, Lubbock manager Greg Minton and designated hitter J.D. Ramirez were ejected from the game for arguing a call at first base.

Bethea laid down a sacrifice bunt, but Lowery - Lubbock's second baseman - never touched the bag when he took the throw from Norton. Minton argued and was ejected, and Ramirez apparently objected from the dugout and was run as well.

But the Crickets got out of the inning without further damage after Paul Coleman hit into an inning-ending double play.