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The Boll Weevil notebook …
When Russ Jacobson went down to a
broken jaw on a collision at the plate on June 23 at Delmarva, many fans thought
that would be a huge blow to the Piedmont Boll Weevils.
Wrong.
Jacobson was replaced in the
lineup by Jeremy Deitrick and the Weevils won seven straight. He is hitting
.286.
Kevin Sullivan, out of little
Division III Carthage College in Wisconsin, was brought in. Certainly, he
couldn’t match Jacobson and Deitrick, right?
Wrong again.
Sullivan was happily signing
autograph after autograph after Friday night’s 4-2 victory over the Macon
Braves. It was only his fifth start but his fourth win as starting catcher. He
was 2-for-4, bringing his average to a robust .389.
“They’ve more than held their
own,” said manager Greg Legg of his backup catchers.
No one really expected anything
from Sullivan when he arrived from Batavia with a .176 average and the
announcement that he was a 32nd-round pick in this year’s draft.
No one, that is, except Sullivan.
“I knew I was better than
that,” the sturdy, 6-1, 210-pound Sullivan said of his draft status.
Sullivan was certainly enjoying
himself Friday, being hailed by a horde of fans as the newest hero on a team of
heroes.
The Weevils were 79-40 after
Friday’s win but winning is nothing new to Sullivan. At Carthage, his teams
were nationally ranked all four of his seasons there.
“I have always been on a
winning team,” he said. “And this team is great. These guys come to play
every day and they think they can win. Icould see it. I could feel it as soon as
I got here.”
“Being fresh out of college,
I’m happy with the progress he’s made,” said Legg. “He’s got a good
approach to hitting and he’s swinging the bat real good right now.”
So good that the fans who
bombarded him Friday have obviously adopted him as one of their Weevil
favorites.
“I just wanted the chance,”
Sullivan said. “In a couple of years, who knows?”
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CAN’TBEATBAILIE: While Sullivan
signed autographs, Matt Bailie watched. And smiled.
“If you come to a winning team,
you’ll be a winner,” Bailie said. “It rubs off on guys who see everybody
else be successful.”
Bailie should know. He might be
the most successful Boll Weevil this year. The middle reliever is a spotless 7-0
with a 1.16 ERA.
But with a lineup that has three
of the top hitters in the league in Marlon Byrd, Jay Sitzman and Nate Espy, the
leading home run hitter in Espy, the leading winner in Brett Myers, it’s easy
to overlook Bailie.
But stats don’t lie. He has
pitched 6213 innings in 38 games, giving up just 41 hits and striking out 67.
“A lot of it is luck,” said
Bailie, downplaying his success. “Igo in with the score close and this team
scores a handful of runs. Ijust try to keep it there for (Justin)Fry and (Mark)Outlaw
to close.”
Bailie has been spotting his
fastball and using a new curve, taught to him by pitching coach Rod Nichols.
“There are days you go out
there and your arm feels real good,” Bailie said. “You go out there feeling
like you can’t lose.”
The Oregon native has obviously
had that feeling all season.
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ASTUNNER: When reliever Chris
Keelin gave up three runs in Thursday’s loss to Macon, it stunned the Weevils,
and probably Keelin too.
It was his first earned run he
has allowed in 20 games and 2413 innings of relief. His last earned run was June
10 against the same Macon Braves.
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SALPLAYEROFthe WEEK: Sitzman was
August’s first South Atlantic League Player of the Week after hitting .619,
driving in nine runs, scoring four times and getting 13 hits, including two
doubles and three triples. He had a slugging percentage of 1.000 and an on-base
percentage of .636.
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BETCHADIDN’TKNOW: Macon hitting
instructor Tommy Gregg was once the player to be named later in a trade that
took former Weevil manager Ken Oberkfell from Pittsburgh to Atlanta.
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INJURIES: Outfielders Jorge
Padilla and Shomari Beverly have watched their teammates from the bleachers over
the past week.
Padilla has a bruised heel and
was taken to Salisbury on Thursday for an MRI.
“Istepped on the first base bag
wrong,” said Padilla, who was really cranking out the hits and was at .296
when he was hurt.
Padilla was asked how it felt to
sit out for the first time.
“No good, no good,” said the
Dominican Republic native. “Iwant to be out there playing.”
Beverly, hitting .224, hurt his
hip while sliding into second and said Thursday he could definitely feel the
pain. He is day-to-day and felt he’d be back in five or six days.
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NEWGUY: Taking a roster spot
because of the injuries is Dan O’Neill, an outfielder from Batavia. The
27th-round draft choice in 1999 was hitting .198 with two homers.
His debut was a good one Thursday
night, working his way on base three times in a 8-2 loss. He scored a run,
doubled and had two walks.
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WHATEVERHAPPENEDTO: Who is the
next former Boll Weevil pitcher to make it to Philadelphia? How about Brandon
Duckworth, an all-star from Double-A Reading.
He was given the “best breaking
ball in the Eastern League” by Baseball America. General manager Ed Wade said
Duckworth would be invited to spring training next year and put on the 40-man
roster. ... In Triple-A, Baseball America chose Reggie Taylor as the “best
outfield arm.”
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BUGBITES: Marlon Byrd is a
legitimate contender for SAL Player of the Year. He is hitting .318 (fourth in
the SAL), is second in RBIs (82), fourth in hits (140), first in triples (10),
third in slugging percentage (.516), first in extra-base hits (50) and third in
runs scored (92). ... Buzz Hannahan knocked in a run in the first three games
against Macon. ... Sitzman had a streak of scoring at least one run in nine
straight games snapped Friday. ... Myers has given up just three runs in his
last 23 innings. He is the league’s winningest pitcher at 13-5. ... The
Weevils play at Hickory Tuesday and Wednesday, then play the Crawdads at
Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium on Thursday — then go back to Hickory on Friday. An
eight-game homestand begins Saturday, Aug. 19.
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Ronnie Gallagher is the sports
editor of the Post.
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