Saturday, July 12, 1997

Aces have just a little more bang for their bat

By MARK WILSON Staff Writer

Bat Night started just a little too late for the Abilene Prairie Dogs Friday night at Scott Field.

Despite four hits in a five-run sixth inning and 13 hits in all, the Prairie Dogs dropped an 11-8 decision to the Alexandria Aces. Fans ages 14 and under in the crowd of 2,229 received free baseball bats, then saw the two teams combine for 34 hits.

It was the Aces who brought out their bats early, though, with 10 through the first four innings as they took an 8-1 lead.

Barry Takahashi got the starting nod for Abilene after it was determined - just minutes before the game during warmups - that Louis Maberry's elbow was too sore for him to take the mound.

Takahashi (1-2) struggled, giving up eight runs on 10 hits in 32/3 innings as the Prairie Dogs dropped to 1-2 in the second half of the T-L League standings. Mike Hampton worked 21/3 innings and Troy Dean Conkle worked the final three frames.

For the Aces, who improved to 2-1, shortstop Robeto DeLeon went 5 for 5 and Wil Delafield drove in three runs with two hits.

The 21 hits for the Aces matched their all-time team record for a single game, not making for a pleasant night for Abilene manager Barry Jones.

"Pitching is bad," Jones said. "We gave up 21 hits, and we're down eight runs before we started the game.

"We're three games in (the second half), and as soon as I can contact some pitchers, I'll get me some. I'm tired of this."

The Prairie Dogs rallied for five runs on four hits in the sixth, but left the potential tying runs on second and third in the seventh, with Alexandria holding on to a 10-8 lead. Abilene also missed an excellent chance to score in the fourth, loading the bases with no outs and leaving all three runners stranded on a popup and a double play turned by the Aces.

"We didn't get timely hits," Jones said. "We have some guys that need to learn how to give themselves up - hit a fly ball or hit a line drive and get that run in. If we do that in those situations, we probably win that game."

Todd Youngblood (4-4), the first of four pitchers for the Aces, went 52/3 innings and got the win.

The Aces opened with a run in the top of the first as John O'Brien doubled to right-center to bring in Marvis Cole, who had singled.

Malvin Matos led off the second inning for the Aces with his fourth home run of the year. Roberto DeLeon followed with a double, and scored on Frank Turco's two-out single to left that made it a 3-0 Alexandria lead.

The inning almost ended before Turco's hit, but a controversial play kept the Aces alive. DeLeon had been on second when Ryan Rothe grounded out to Takahashi,and slid past the third-base bag. Abilene third baseman Manny Gagliano took the throw from first baseman Mike Vallerelli, but the umpire ruled that he didn't tag DeLeon before his outstretched hand found the bag.

Kyle Shade's third homer of the season, with two outs in the third, gave the Aces a 4-0 edge.

The Prairie Dogs cut it to 4-1 in the bottom of the third as Jason Keith singled, stole second and scored on a single to left by Scott Bethea.

Alexandria doubled its run total in the fourth with four runs on four hits. All of the runs were unearned, thanks to an error on Bethea, the second baseman.

After that, Frank Turco drove in a run with a sacrifice fly, Tahan drove in apair with a double and O'Brien had a run-scoring double to give the Aces their 8-1 lead.

Abilene cut it to 8-3 in the fifth as Keith reached on an error before DarrylMonroe's two-run homer to left - his second of the year.

In the sixth, Wil Delafield's two-run single gave the visitors a 10-3 advantage.

But Abilene's big inning followed, starting with Jay Andrews' double and a single by Mike Vallarelli. Shawn Hughes singled home Andrews, and Keith walked to load the bases.

Monroe then drew a walk to force in a run, and Bethea hit a sacrifice fly to center. Jason McClure, who entered the game third in the league with a .388 batting average, doubled home two runs - for one of his four hits on the night - to narrow the gap to 10-8.

Delafield hit his second homer of the season in the eighth to give Alexandria its only other run.