W L PCT GB
Yakima ...... 4 0 1.000 —
Vancouver ... 4 0 1.000 —
Salem ....... 3 1 .750 1
Spokane ..... 2 2 .500 2
Victoria .... 2 2 .500 2
Tri-City .... 1 3 .250 3
Tacoma ...... 0 4 .000 4
Wenatchee ... 0 4 .000 4
TACOMA, April 22—Barney Serrell's two-run homer in the second game gave Yakima a 7-6 win over Tacoma after the Bears had won the opener 3-1.
Serrell may be swinging the hottest bat so far in the young Western International League season. Saturday, he connected for a triple and three singles in six trips to pace the Bears to an 11-1 nightcap victory. Yakima won the opener 6-1, aided by two timely hits by Serrell, giving the Bears a four-game series sweep in Tacoma.
(1st game)
Yakima ..... 002 030 200—7 8 1
Tacoma ..... 010 011 111—6 12 2
Del Sarto, Thompson (9) and Tiesiera; Bowman, McDaniel (6) Goldizen (7), Amador (9) and Smith.
(2nd game, 9 innings)
Yakima ......... 001 000 002—3 7 0
Tacoma .........000 100 000—1 3 0
Powell and Brenner; Theodosis, Clark (9) and Watson.
WENATCHEE, April 22—Vancouver rolled their baseball bandwagon to the lead of the Western International league pennant parade Sunday with a double-header win and a clean sweep of a four-game series in Wenatchee against the Chiefs.
The Capilanos added 10-1 and 9-0 wins as Pete Hernandez pitched five-hitter in the opener, despite being ill with a skin rash for three days, while Don Tisnerat set the Chiefs down with three safeties in the nightcap.
Dick Sinovic, with two doubles, and Reno Cheso, with a triple, were the power hitters in Vancouver's 15-hit, first game attack. On the second blow, Sinovic injured his ankle sliding into second base.
Charlie Mead was the Caps' big stick in the afterpiece with two doubles and a single.
Former Cap Mike Kanshin started for the Chiefs and in no time found he wasn't among friends. Vancouver prodyced six runs in the first three innings off him. A large part of the damage was rendered by outfielder Gordon Brunswick, who replaced Sinovic. A large fellow who hits the ball harder than is absolutely necessary, Brunswick hit a 380-foot triple with scored two runs.
Assisting in the scoring department were Charlie Mead, with three hits, two of them doubles, and Bill Schuster, whose single brought in a pair of runs.
While this was going on, Tisnerat showed the Chiefs how to pitch successful baseball. Watching him in action, you wonder what keeps him from falling on his face every time he throws the ball.
His balance would never earn him a position with the ballet and his form is something less than fanciful than that of Jane Russell. It might have been that the Chief spent more time watching him than they did observing his pitches. In any event he starved the ravenous Chiefs with three hits.
(1st game, 9 innings)
Vancouver ....... 340 010 020—10 15 0
Wenatchee ...... 000 100 000— 1 5 3
Hernandez and Ritchie; Treichel, Krohonen (2) and Len Neal.
(2nd game, 7 innings)
Vancouver ......... 231 030 0—9 9 0
Wenatchee ........ 000 000 0—0 3 2
Tisnerat and Ritchie; Kanshin and Len Neal.
SALEM (Special) — The revitalized Salem Senators swept both ends of a doubleheader here Sunday from the Tri-City Braves to stay within a half a game of the top of the Western International baseball league.
Fireman Jim Olsen who saved Dick Stone's 5-0 shutout on Saturday was charged with the 6-4 defeat in the first game. The Braves garnered four runs in the first inning to do all their scoring. And again it was third baseman Neil Bryant who drove in three of the counters while Rube Navarro drove in Bryant for the fourth one.
When Cy Greenlaw, who started on the hill for the Braves, got into trouble in the sixth Olsen took over. But a four-run Salem splurge in the eighth called out Bob Costello who finished out the game.
Augie Zande, making his first mound appearance for the Tri-City club gave up but seven hits in losing the nightcap 4-3. After trailing 3-1 the Braves evened the score in the fifth only to see Salem ice the game in the bottom of that same inning.
- - - -
SALEM — Salem's Senators defeated Tri-City twice here Sunday, 6-4 and 4-3, to win their opening Western International league series 3 games to 1.
The Senators, trailing 4-2 in the nine-inning opener, came through with a 4-run rally in the eighth for the triumph.
George McDonald, Salem first sacker, drove in the winning Salem run in the fifth inning of the seven-inning second game. The doubleheader drew a crowd of 2,100.
Yesterday's linescores:
(1st game, 9 innings)
Tri-City ........ 400 000 000—4 7 2
Salem ........... 000 002 04x—6 9 0
Greenlaw, Olsen (6), Costello (9) and M. Michelson; Lew and Beard.
(2nd game)
Tri-City ......... 001 020 0—3 9 0
Salem ............ 030 010 x—4 7 0
Zande, Costello (6) and Pesut; Burak, DeGeorge (5) and McKeegan.
SPOKANE — Spokane's Indians pounded a Victoria pitcher for six hits and eight runs in the first inning, then coasted the rest of the way to win the initial game of a Western International league split doubleheader 14 to 4 Sunday.
(1st game, 9 innings)
Victoria ....... 000 010 003— 4 6 1
Spokane ...... 820 100 300—14 11 2
Waibel, Osborn (1), Chase (6) and Marcucci; Holder and Hinz, Mercenheimer (9)
(2nd game, 9 innings)
Victoria ....... 200 000 005—7 10 1
Spokane ...... 000 000 002—2 6 2
Propst and Martin; Rockey, Weaver (9), Wyatt (9) and Hinz.
ON THE INSIDE
By DON BECKER, Herald Sports Editor [April 23/51]
When Neil Bryant splashed Luscious Lud Lew's 3-0 pitch in that first game Sunday for a double there was a lot more to it than the three runs the Braves' third baseman drove in. For one thing it's a rarity in baseball when a batter goes after the 3-0 cripple. Normally the situation calls for the batter to “take” the pitch even though it's usually right down Broadway. And that's easy enough to understand. With the odds 36-1 against any batter getting a base hit it's a lot safer to work for a base on balls when the count has run the string.
But when Charlie Petersen made no move to give Bryant the take sign he was apparently counting on several things. Number one would be of course Bryant's ability to hit those scorching line drives that earned him the doubles record in the WIL last year. And also Petersen was counting on catching the Senators defense momentarily let down. And that's exactly how it worked.
Normally baseball strategy doesn't call for a batter to be swinging away on a 3-0 pitch in the top of the first inning even if the bags are loaded, as they were when Bryant socked it. Thus Petersen probably figured that even if Bryant slashed one which in the usual course of events would be handled by an alert infield the fact they were back on their heels would give Bryant that extra jump on the ball. Although the maneuver didn't win the ball game it does show that Peterson is trying to combat his lack of plate plower by using unorthodox, but payoff methods, of baseball.
IT'S OPEN TO DISCUSSION
That matter of when to go for the “cripple” as they call the 3-0 pitch is a disputable one. Normally, as we said before, the thing to do is to watch it come down the middle. Of course should a team be behind late in the scoring position that's another thing. Then you can look for the batter to go for it if it's in there.
But there are some batters who will go for it anytime. They are few and probably the most notable is Ted Williams. We fell to talking about this particular subject in the dugout at Salem Friday night and Charlie regaled the bench with this story of Williams when he was on his way up to the majors.
Williams was at bat and the count went to 3-0. The catcher having heard of Williams' terrific ability with the bat looked up at him and said, “You wouldn't go for the “cripple” would you?” “Throw it in there and find out,” replied the lanky outfielder. The catcher did and the last he saw of it was the ball clearing the right field fence.
MAY BE A BIT ROCKY
Are the Braves off to another bad start? That seems to be a fair question in the light of their losing three out of their first four road games. The complete answer will come of course when they start their 10-game home stand Tuesday night. At first glance it would appear that they are. It takes a .500 percentage on the road to come within shooting distance of the pennant. And with infielders and catchers playing the outfield that is more than can be expected.
There's some argument that the Braves lost the pennant last year on that final disasterous trip into Canada. But as far as this corner is concerned it was lost right at the start of the year when Charlie was forced to use pitchers as outfielders. For those who take the stand that the first games of the season aren't too important we merely point to the current fix that San Francisco of the Coast league is in. The Seals dropped 13 in a row before they recovered but that's a big lead to give such teams as Portland who was picked to finish in the cellar. Say what you will if the Tri-City club had a couple long ball hitters in that first game they couldn't have lost it.
But when Charlie Petersen made no move to give Bryant the take sign he was apparently counting on several things. Number one would be of course Bryant's ability to hit those scorching line drives that earned him the doubles record in the WIL last year. And also Petersen was counting on catching the Senators defense momentarily let down. And that's exactly how it worked.
Normally baseball strategy doesn't call for a batter to be swinging away on a 3-0 pitch in the top of the first inning even if the bags are loaded, as they were when Bryant socked it. Thus Petersen probably figured that even if Bryant slashed one which in the usual course of events would be handled by an alert infield the fact they were back on their heels would give Bryant that extra jump on the ball. Although the maneuver didn't win the ball game it does show that Peterson is trying to combat his lack of plate plower by using unorthodox, but payoff methods, of baseball.
IT'S OPEN TO DISCUSSION
That matter of when to go for the “cripple” as they call the 3-0 pitch is a disputable one. Normally, as we said before, the thing to do is to watch it come down the middle. Of course should a team be behind late in the scoring position that's another thing. Then you can look for the batter to go for it if it's in there.
But there are some batters who will go for it anytime. They are few and probably the most notable is Ted Williams. We fell to talking about this particular subject in the dugout at Salem Friday night and Charlie regaled the bench with this story of Williams when he was on his way up to the majors.
Williams was at bat and the count went to 3-0. The catcher having heard of Williams' terrific ability with the bat looked up at him and said, “You wouldn't go for the “cripple” would you?” “Throw it in there and find out,” replied the lanky outfielder. The catcher did and the last he saw of it was the ball clearing the right field fence.
MAY BE A BIT ROCKY
Are the Braves off to another bad start? That seems to be a fair question in the light of their losing three out of their first four road games. The complete answer will come of course when they start their 10-game home stand Tuesday night. At first glance it would appear that they are. It takes a .500 percentage on the road to come within shooting distance of the pennant. And with infielders and catchers playing the outfield that is more than can be expected.
There's some argument that the Braves lost the pennant last year on that final disasterous trip into Canada. But as far as this corner is concerned it was lost right at the start of the year when Charlie was forced to use pitchers as outfielders. For those who take the stand that the first games of the season aren't too important we merely point to the current fix that San Francisco of the Coast league is in. The Seals dropped 13 in a row before they recovered but that's a big lead to give such teams as Portland who was picked to finish in the cellar. Say what you will if the Tri-City club had a couple long ball hitters in that first game they couldn't have lost it.
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