Tuesday, July 2, 1996

Prairie Dogs have been unbelievable on the road this season

By AL PICKETT
Sports Editor

The way to win a baseball championship is to win your games at home and play .500 on the road.
It's a theory that's as old as the sport itself.

Well, the Abilene Prairie Dogs are on the verge of capturing the first-half title in the Texas-Louisiana League - the first in franchise history - and they've done it by doing just the opposite.

The Dogs are only 12-11 at home at Crutcher Scott Field. But after last weekend's four-game sweep of the Aces in Alexandria, La., Abilene is 16-4 away from home. That's an incredible .800 performance on the road this season.

The four-game sweep of Alexandria was typical of the Prairie Dogs' performances on the road this season. They rallied twice in the late innings for a pair of one-run wins and won another game in 12 innings.

So why so much success on the road when they've played only .500 baseball at home?

"I don't have any idea," Abilene manager Phil Stephenson said. "How to explain it? I don't know. This club may be tailored a little more for the road, but I don't know a lot of people who can hit in this park."

The Prairie Dogs are tied with Rio Grande Valley for the league lead in home runs with 40 in 42 games, but 28 of those have been hit on the road. The wind blowing in over right field makes Scott Field a difficult place to hit home runs, especially for the Dogs' left-handed power hitters such as Rod Brewer and Barry Jones.

"We're better suited for right-handed pitching," Stephenson admitted. "I didn't go for that, but that's the way it happened. We've seen a lot of left-handed pitching lately, but we've fared all right. Our more expierenced hitters are left-handed."

Besides the Dogs' amazing success on the road, nothing has really surprised Stephenson about his first team, however.

"This is where I thought we'd be," he said. "We're not a great speed club,but we have better than average team speed. We've played pretty good defense for the most part, although I'd like to see us play better. We've had good patience at the plate; we lead the lead in walks. And our pitchers lead the league in thefewest walks given up.

"For the most part, we're where I thought we'd be. We have the ability to come back in any part of our lineup."

The Prairie Dogs have just seven games remaining in the first half of the season - all with last-place Tyler. The two teams play three games at Scott Field, beginning tonight, and then four games over the weekend in Tyler.

Some of the largest crowds of the season are expected for the three home games this week at Scott Field. If things fall right, they could have the added bonus of seeing the Prairie Dogs clinch their first title in franchise history.

If it doesn't happen at home this week, however, the Dogs can always return to "Road Sweet Road."