Saturday, June 28, 1997

Crickets sweep pair from Dogs

LUBBOCK - Mark Hampton walked Sy Jones with the bases loaded to drive in the winning run in the nightcap as the Lubbock Crickets beat the Abilene Prairie Dogs, 4-3, to sweep a doubleheader Friday at Dan Law Field.

Mike Hardge hit a three-run home run to lead Lubbock to an 8-2 victory in the first game. It marked the first time the Crickets had beaten the Prairie Dogs this season.

With the second game tied, 3-3, and one out in the seventh inning, Lubbock's Brad Gennaro hit a little tapper that Abilene catcher Mike Vallarelli threw down the right-field line. Gennaro was given a single and reached third base on the play.

The Prairie Dogs elected to walk Andy Skeels and Donald Harris to load the bases and set up a force at home. But the strategy backfired when Hampton issued his only unintentional walk of the game on four pitches.

Hampton (3-2) pitched 123 innings, allowing one hit, one unearned run and walking three and striking out one.

Adrian Hollanger (1-1) got the win in relief, despite allowing Abilene to tie the game in the seventh.

Jeff Kiraly walked and scored on Vallarelli's RBI double in the top of the seventh to tie the score at 3-3.

Abilene took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Frank Contreras had an RBI single and Jason Keith scored on Manny Gagliano's doubleplay grounder.

Lubbock answered with two runs in the bottom of the first inning and went ahead on J.D. Ramirez RBI single.

The Prairie Dogs jumped out first in the opener. Scott Bethea scored on a one-out double by Manny Gagliano. It appeared that Frank Contreras would have scored, too, but he slowed down, possibly anticipating a stop sign from Manager Barry Jones, and was thrown out at the plate.

The Crickets then took control of the game with a five-run second, highlighted by a two-run double by Paul Petrulis and Hardge's three-run homer.

Contreras added an RBI double in the third inning, but was part of a strange doulbeplay. He was thrown out from the first baseman to the third baseman to the catcher on a grounder by Jason McClure. McClure then got caught between first and second to complete the doubleplay. That left the score 5-2.

The Crickets added a run on an error by Bethea in the third inning, an RBI fielder's choice by Donald Harris in the fourth and a Jason Keith error in the sixth.

Gagliano and Mike Vallarelli each had two hits for Abilene. Brian Conger (1-3) took the loss, lasting just 213 innings. He allowed seven hits, six runs, all earned, two walks and had no strikeouts. Prairie Dog pitchers failed to strike out a batter in the game.