Tuesday, June 24, 1997

Dogs in fifth place with about a dozen game left in first half

By LANCE FLEMING

Staff Writer

Going into Monday night's game against Rio Grande Valley, Abilene was in fifth place in the Texas-Louisiana League standings, 41/2 games behind league- leading Amarillo.

That's not an enviable position to be in with 14 games left in the first-half race. But Abilene manager Barry Jones isn't concerned about the situation his team find itself in.

"It's not like we don't have a chance at winning the first half," Jones said. "We get the league leader (Amarillo) three more times (June 30-July 2) at home, so we're not out of it."

Before the season started the league office changed the playoff format from last year's confusing two-tier, everybody-gets-in-no-matter-their-record system to a true league championship series. There's only round - a championship round - matching the first half winner against the second half winner. If one team wins both halves then that team will be opposed by the team with the second-best overall record.

That means that even if the Prairie Dogs don't win the first half, they could still be playing for a spot in the postseason.

"We can still play a role in the first half, and if not that then for the entire season," Jones said. "We'll play as hard as we can for as long as we can."

Jones, who has been in Abilene all three years of the team's existence, is in a different position this season. In 1995, the Prairie Dogs never were in the race and last year they dominated the league.

But this season, for the first time, they're having to fight for a playoff spot.

"It's different for me, too, because as a manager I see all the games we've lost because of mental mistakes," Jones said. "We'll use this half as a half where everybody gets used to each other. But if they don't get used to each other we'll make changes to make this team better. We'll just see what happens over the next three weeks."

Rainout news

Sunday night's game between Abilene and Tyler that was rained out probably won't be made up, according to Jones. He said it will probably be made up only if it will have any effect on the first-half pennant chase.

Tonight's game

The Prairie Dogs will play their first home doubleheader of the season tonight against Rio Grande Valley, starting at 6:05 p.m. The Prairie Dogs will send Troy Dean Conkle (2-2, 11.01 ERA) and John Baack (2-3, 7.11 ERA) to the hill in the two games. They'll be opposed by Kiki Trevino (0-0, 6.75 ERA) and Michael Fox (0-0, 0.00 ERA) of the WhiteWings.

Tonight at the ballpark, all little league all stars in attendance will be recognized between games of the doubleheader.