KANNAPOLIS — Piedmont’s Shayne Carnes, who led the Boll Weevils to a 5-2 South
Atlantic League baseball win over Hickory on Monday with a 4-for-4 night, is an Alabama
boy who likes nothing better than listening to country music. Most of those country songs Carnes listens
to are sad ones. Tuneful tales of gettin’ drunk, gettin’ cheated on or
gettin’ even. Stories about losin’ your best dog, your best friend or even your
best girl.
It’s hard to believe now, but
back in April, Carnes’ life was sadder than the saddest country song ever written.
Four short months ago, he’d lost his timing, his swing and his ability to hit a
baseball.
And he had to be lying awake
nights wondering just how much longer he would be wearing the uniform of a professional
ballplayer.
Carnes, a 6-2, 200-pound,
22-year-old couldn’t believe what he was going through in April, because he had never
struggled at the plate in his life.
He’d hit in high school where
he’d won two state championships. He’d hit in college at his hometown university
— UAB.
And he’d hit in pro ball at
Batavia in 1998 (.329 in 63 games) after the Philadelphia Phillies had plucked him off the
UAB campus in the 25th round of the draft.
But Carnes couldn’t seem to
hit a lick for Piedmont. During one sorrowful stretch, he swung the bat about like the
guys in the pressbox would swing it in the SAL. He went 0-for-29.
“After 100 at-bats, I was at
.110,” recalls Carnes, groaning audibly at the memory. “At that point, I was
thinkin’ that if I could just get back to .200 by the end of the season, it would be
a great accomplishment.”
By May, fortunately, the hits had
started trickling in, and Carnes revised his gloomy forecast.
“I set my goal then at
.250,” he said. “I made some good adjustments and I started thinkin’ about
getting 70 RBIs.”
Carnes won’t reach his goal
in RBIs — he has 45 — but as far as the batting average, it looks like he
won’t need a shoulder to cry on, after all.
He tacked on 10 points to his
average last night. After banging out two singles, a homer and a team-leading 25th double
against the Crawdads (51-62), he’s all the way up to .269.
The homer came in the second
inning with the Weevils (57-56) trailing 1-0.
With Jeremy Salazar at first,
Carnes whacked a wicked liner that cleared the right-field fence by a country mile for a
2-1 Weevil lead.
“He (David Williams) pitched
me in, and I got it on the fat part of the bat,” Carnes said with a shrug.
The most impressive thing about
the no-doubt-about-it homer was that lefty Carnes nailed it off a southpaw.
“Actually, I seem to hit
lefties better than righties,” said Carnes. “That’s unusual, but I’m
more patient against lefties and I’m aware of staying on the ball against them.
Sometimes, I jump at the righties.”
Hickory tied the game at 2-2 in
the sixth against Weevil starter Derrick Turnbow, but then reliever Jeremy Wedel came in
and started a huge, inning-ending double play on a one-hop smash back to the box.
“Wedel made an outstanding
play,” said Piedmont manager Ken Oberkfell, “and he pitched outstanding,
too.”
The Weevils decided the game in
the bottom of the sixth, making a winner of Wedel (4-2).
Carnes started things with a
single. Then Jerry Connell, who has been on the Piedmont-Clearwater shuttle, cracked a
long, two-run homer to left for a 4-2 lead.
Later in the inning, Alex
Fajardo’s two-out single knocked in newcomer Wil Polidor to make it 5-2.
“We didn’t get a lot of
hits, but we sure got some key ones,” said a visibly relieved Oberkfell. “That
was nice. We needed this game badly.”
The Weevils did indeed need this
one. The team had just arrived back in the friendly confines of Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium
following a disastrous 2-5 road swing that ended with four straight losses. The Weevils
scored a paltry five runs in those four defeats.
“We’ve been snake-bit
lately,” said Carnes. “Nate Espy breaks his leg and Carlos Duncan gets hurt.
Then Alejandro (Giron) gets the
chicken pox. Then Eric (Schreimann) gets hit by a couple of pitches. We’re beat
up.”
It’s been an unlikely string
of misfortune that would make a good country music song — and a chain of catastrophe
that has made a healthy Carnes an essential stick in the middle of what’s left of the
riddled Weevils’ lineup.
And who would have believed that
was remotely possible back in the spring when Carnes could barely hit half his weight?
At this point, Carnes’
teammates still prefer rock or rap or salsa to his country tunes.
And they still kiddingly call the
likeable first baseman “Alabama Redneck” and cover their ears when he cranks up
the volume on a George Strait CD.
But every single one of the
Weevils is delighted to have Carnes on their team. Because the self-proclaimed
“redneck” is red-hot. And he might just be the one that gets them all to the
playoffs and gives this roller-coaster Weevil season a happy ending.
“All I can say is that
baseball’s a very funny game,” said Carnes. “One day you’re the worst,
the next day you’re the best.”
*
NOTES : Piedmont closer Cary Hiles
racked up his 24th save with an uneventful ninth. ... Giron returned to the lineup after
his bout with chicken pox. He apparently caught it from Fajardo. Now, shortstop Ambiorix
Reyes has contracted the malady. ... The banged-up Schreimann is in the throes of a
2-for-26 slide. ... The Weevils are 5-6 this season against Hickory. ... Pitchers Matt
Bailie and Chris Pilato have joined the team, replacing promoted Jonathan Rose and Derek
Adair. ... Connell’s homer broke a 1-for-12 dry spell. The same teams play again
tonight, with Francisco Montero hurling for Piedmont. |
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