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Sports Phil Clark Braves set to start 1994 season play The Atlanta Braves have won the last three National League West titles and two of the last three league championships. With the start of the new season just a couple of days away, Monday afternoon in San Diego, the Braves face a new division in the realigned National League. Atlanta will play in the East division where the toughest challenges will probably come from Philadelphia and Montreal. Not only will the Braves be in a different division, they will also sport a different look in the out field. Gene from last year's pennant winners are left fielder Ron Gant, released in mid-March after a dirt bike accident broke a leg, and cen terfielder Otis Nixon, the club's best leadoff batter and a top-notch de fensive outfielder. To replace them, the Braves have handed the centerfield job to Deion Sanders, who will also in herit the leadoff spot in the batting order. Sanders is inexperienced in both, but has that great speed which will partly neutralize his inexperi ence. He has to be little more selec tive and patient at the plate, and get on base more often. In left field, the frontrunners are Tony Tarasco and Ryan Klesko, since the season ending injury to Chipper Jones. Both Klesko and Jones woe making the move from infield positions. Tarasco is a natural outfielder. But the candidate who has come on strong during spring training is Mike Kelly, the Braves first round pick in 1991 out of Arizona State. Kelly's minor league batting av erage has been lower that the Braves want, but his home run and RBI production have been rela tively high. Kelly, too, is a natural outfielder and has led the Braves in hitting during the spring. With Jones out of the picture, the Braves could keep Kelly with the big club. He is a right handed hitter, while Klesko and Tarasco are lefties, as are Sanders and right fielder David Justice. Kelly would also be good insurance if Sanders does not pan out in centerfield. There is a positive, though, to the pre-season solid pitching and sound infield. Fred McGriff will start the sea son with Atlanta this year, and given a whole year, his offensive numbers should be impressive. He will be the everyday first baseman, with Klesko getting a game or two here and there. Mark Lemke has solidified his position at second base. Until this season, Lemke has had to fight off challengers, either real or imagined. He has progressed to a stature that puts him in the top category of National League second basemen. Jeff Blauser, likewise, is not rated as one of the top shortstops in all of baseball because of his power, his batting average, and his steadily improving defensive abili ties. Terry Pendleton came to camp twenty pounds lighter and should have another great year. He is still the steadying influence in the club house that makes him the most valuable Brave, in addition to his great play at third and at baL OK, you say, how about the catching situation. Well, apparently the Braves believe strongly in young Javier Lopez. They have more or less handed him the start ing job. He will provide more power than the Braves have had at the position since perhaps Joe Torre. Can he handle the pitching staff? He doesn’t have to. The staff can help him along in calling the game. And so will Leo Mazzone, the pitching coach. Lopez will be a solid catcher. Charlie O'Brien is an outstanding defensive catcher who will also be a good influence on young Lopez. The Braves pitching staff is generally regarded as the best in the major leagues. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, John Smoltz and Steve Avery return as the top four Please see ClarK, page ba Westfield drops third to Trojans By VETO F. ROLEY Staff Writer The Hornets are in good shape in region play, sporting a perfect 2-0 record. However, non-region play is another matter, where Westfield stands at 0-7. A huge reason for the Hornets being 0-7 in the non-region is John Milledge. Three times the Hornets and the Trojans have met on the di amond battle field. All three times, John Milledge has come away with one run wins. The latest chapter came Thursday afternoon just outside of Milledgeville as the Trojans scored three runs in the bottom of the sev enth to take home the win, 5-4. A hit to start the seventh and two questionable two-out walks spelled doom for the visiting Hornets. Hornet pitcher Lon Talton, who had entered the game in relief, worked the count to 2-2 on Shane Nelson with two outs. “The pitch was right in there, about at the knees and the boy took it,” said Hornet coach Bert Brown. “Lon (Talton) threw a ball that had been called (a strike) all day.” Brown said the same thing hap pened with the next batter, Ryan McDaniel. Again, a low pitch that looked to be good was called a ball instead of a called third strike. Spencer Bass, who collected Panthers split matches with Hawkinsville By VETO F. ROLEY Staff Writer Perry tennis coach Luke Smith’s men’s team has had a long 1994 season, losing all seven matches this year. However, before the Hawkinsville match Wednesday, finding a victory became harder when the number two and number three singles players were kicked off the team for disciplinary reasons. The loss of the two players means that the Panthers will enter every future match at least one down, having to forfeit one doubles match or two singles matches. Against Hawkinsville, the lack of a doubles team cost the Panthers a chance at their first victory of the year, as they lost 3-2. Smith said the two singles players kicked off the team would not be allowed to return. Into the breach went Daniel Wright and Kelly Waters, who started the season playing doubles. After going the entire year without a win in singles competition, Wright and Waters took their first matches for the Panthers first wins in singles. Wright beat Andy Poe 8-1 while Waters downed James Dickson 8-2. Indians use sun to skin Panthers at Dodge Hf ■ | W JP Fll» Photo Dallas Waldrlp, shown hitting a grandslam against Dodge when they were In Perry, slammed a seventh Inning shot to bring Perry to within one In Eastman. three hits and three RBIs, singled to tie the game, scoring Nelson and Brad Sappe, who had reached earlier on a single. McDaniel scored on a wild pitch, giving the Trojans the 5-4 non-region win. The Hornets are still having problems getting base hits, said Brown. “We hit the ball very hard at times,” said Brown. “But, they were ‘right at them’ shots.” Brown said the Hornets could have scored several more runs with just a little luck, adding that Troy Nuss missed a grand slam when a ball he stroked was foul by two feet down the left field fence. Matt Shepley also just missed a double when his hit bounced foul. The Trojans had the early lead, scoring one run in both the first and second innings. Down two runs, the Hornets came back to take a 4-2 lead, scor ing three runs in the fifth and one in the sixth. Westfield was able to take the lead with the benefit of only one hit, taking advantage of three walks and a hit-by-a-pitch. All of the damage came with two outs, with Nuss (hit-by-pitch) and Talton (walk) collecting RBIs in the in ning. In the sixth, Jeff Dehem and Thad Hawk walked to start the in ning. A double steal resulted in Please see Westfield, page 7A Joey Cocking defeated Clay Fuller 8-1 in the number one sin gles match. “Clay (Fuller) never played anything until this year,” -’lg \' v ,_, , ML • -W* ", Z 7 * * A A : i T' ■ Katherine Blount returns against Christy Stevlson Wednesday afternoon. W I **“ A Trojan runner gets back to first as Lon Talton throws over. The Trojans own three of Westfield’s seven non-region losses. said Smith. “His skills are just not to the level of people who’ve played a lot of years.” The Panther team of Lee Houston Times-Journal Saturday, April 4,1994 Houston Times - Journal- Danielson and Garrett Curry lost to Tildon Brembry and Michael King 8-2 in the one contested doubles match. By VETO F. ROLEY Staff Writer In the old west, the Indians would always come out of the west for an evening attack, getting the sun to shine in the eyes of their en emies. Thursday night, Dodge County used the old ploy to get five runs in the first, holding on to beat the Panthers 8-7 in Eastman. The game was held for 10 min utes in the bottom of the first as the sun was setting over the Dodge County diamond. However, the umpire did not call for a break until the Indians put five runners across the plate. “The sun was in the eyes,” said Panther head coach Bob Jones. “The catcher couldn’t see it (the ball) and the umpire couldn’t see it “I just wonder why it took five runs before he realized he (the um pire) realized he couldn’t see to call balls and strikes.” Even with the problems with the sun, Jones was reluctant to say the first inning was the reason the Panthers lost the game, saying Perry gave the ball away by making mental mistakes. “It’s not so bad when you go out and get beat,” said Jones. “We gave away too many runs in the fourth and fifth in nings.” Jones added that while the Panthers did come back to make the game a one-run affair, they had many chances to blow the game open. “We couldn’t get the job done when we needed too,” he said. “We are not good enough to give runs away," said Jones. “We fight too hard to get what we get” Even in the first inning, the Page 5A The women’s team continued to improve after starting the season 0- 2. A 4-1 win over Hawkinsville gave the women an overall record of 4-3. The Panthers won two of the three singles matches and both dou bles matchups. Jennifer Synder de feated Tara Powers 8-6 for the only Hawkinsville win of the afternoon. Please see Tennis, page 6A Panthers get revenge on the track By VETO F. ROLEY Staff Writer The Perry Lady Panthers got a measure of revenge against Jones County and Tri-County Tuesday afternoon in a quad meet at Perry. At Jones County, Perry was only able to muster a third place finish last week. However, perform ing on their home track, the Perry ladies beat Tri-County 65-44.5 Jones County came in third with 41 points, while Peach County pulled Please see Track, page 7 A Panthers caused many of their prob lems, walking four batters. All four walks would circle the diamond to touch home. The Indians would get only two hits in the inning, but five runs. The Panthers would start down the comeback trail in the top of the second. Dallas Waldrip and Tim Allen would reach on enors by Lie Dodge County thirdbaseman. Thad Cook would put Waldrip and Long across the plate with a double. Cook would move to third on Jamal Reynolds ground out, and score on an infield single by Jamie Walker, making the score 5-3, Dodge. But, as would be the story throughout the game, the Panthers would give the Indians back a run in the bottom of the inning. Jason Muilis would walk, go to second on a wild pitch, steal third and score when the catcher’s throw went into leftfleld. Perry would get the run back in the fourth, but would give it back in the bottom half of the inning on two hits and an error. “That’s the inning that really hurt us,” said Jones. “The fifth in ning.” Not only would the fifth inning come back to haunt the Panthers; but, it would also give them the biggest scare of the game when shortstop/pitcher Jason Brett was hit in the head by a pitch. The fence of the pitch shattered Brett’s hel met. Although Brett would later re turn to the game after being taken out for a pinch runner, he was taken to Perry Hospital as a precaution Please see Perry, page 6A