| OCR Text |
Show p,w HI t1 ' Iwy ' nTW-rTl- W w Tnnn- -t "V m SOdlS Dixie flying on Hurst's left arm By Dan Pattison Deseret News sports writer Around St. George, people feel that Bruce Hurst wears the letter S on his uniform. They expect hint to perform superhuman feats everytime he takes the mound for the Dixie Flyers. And for the record, the is just about a Superman. This spring the crafty southpaw has' posted a mark, hurling a against Cedar City, averaging 14 strikeouts per game and his ERA was (0.71). 6-- 4, left-hand- 6-- 0 er His three-yea- r mark at Dixie High is which compares favorably to Bingham Bryan Axel Hardy, who has posted a 30-- mark for three years. It would be a spectators dream to sec Hurst and Hardy pitted against each other in the tournament next week at Ken Price Park, Murray. Both pitchers (both southpaws) have pro scouts drooling for their June 8 draft. Hurst has always been tough even since his sophomore year (he was 10-- 0 his sophomore year), explained Dixie coach Don Lay, who also saw Hurst lead him to the Class semi-finain basketball against American Fork. 24-- 2, 2 3-- A 3-- ls no-hitt- double-overtim- Kathy and John Verhoeven take time out from the baseball grind to relax in their Murray apartment and enjoy record collection. Deseret News sports writer Lanky Salt Lake Gulls pitcher John Verhoeven is a good example of the power of positive thinking. Ever since I was 10 years old, I wanted to be a pro baseball player and a high school basketball coach," the California native says. At age 22, Verhoeven is exactly that. when he is not In the wearing the baseball togs, John is junior varsity basketball coach at Valley Christian High School in Cerritos, Calif. Reggie sticks Yanks AAets 5-- 3--2, 5-- 3-- victory over the Giants. Lynn A1 McGlothen, with relief help from win while fourth his notched Hrabosky, John Montefusco suffered the loss. The Baltimore Orioles are learning season Jackson has joined the ballclub and suddenly the Orioles four straight aflei are winning again Friday nights 2 win over the New York Yankees which brought them to the .500 mark. Jackson, the big stick the Orioles felt they had to have when they dealt away Don Baylor and Mike Torrez to acquire him from Oakland, first inning with a triggered a four-rutwo-ru- n homer. "Im not in midseason form yet. said Jackson, but I think in the next couple of days Ill be where I want to 6-- n be. "Weve finally got something to- said the Orioles pepperpot gether, manager, Earl Weaver. Weve finally got what we didnt have early in the season all our guys together. We missed Reggie the first few weeks and some of our other guys werent hitting, but now Belanger's out of his slump, Lee May is hitting and A1 Bumbry is hitting. and Keller-Winmi- ll against Hawaii. While he was a starter in high school and college, Verhoeven is strictly a reliever now. Earl D. Walters doesnt profess to be a Willie Davenport, Blaine Lindgren, Hayes Jones (former world class hurdlers). But when he sees a hurdle, it doesnt bother him. As a matter of fact, he welcomes the challenge. If he didn't, he wouldnt have bothered to attempt to bring professional basketball back to Utah. But Earl, who among doubting-Thomase- s drew remarks like, Who is this guy Walters? Hes got rocks in his head to think pro basketball will return to Utah, was undaunted in his venture to bring pro basketball back to Utah. I thought it was a darn shame the way the club left here, said Walters. I didn't like the opinions put out by some publications belittling Salt Lake City as a franchise spot. I live here by choice, not by necessity. Im not a native of Utah. I grew up in Idaho. But I feel like Im a native now after 20 years of living here. This is a beautiful city and one of the best for a pro basketball franchise in the nation. The players, contrary to what some of the stories would have you believe, love to live in Salt Lake City. Just look at all the players who have settled here. They loved to play here and hated to leave. Earl is right. Rod McDonald settled here and is c TraveLodge; Glen Combs managing the manages Palmer Bros. Building; Jeff Congdon has had several different jobs, like selling real estate and managing the Canyon Racquet Club; Mike Butler has his own business, and Ron Boone never did leave Salt Lake City to go to St. Louis. Even Zeltno Beaty and his family are moving back to Utah this summer. Tri-Ar- A A person associated with the NHL indicated that should Swig move, he probably would shift to Denver. Seattle had also been mentioned. The Seals are the parent club of the Salt Lake Golden Eagles of the Central Hockey League, and numerous Eagle fans are wondering how a move of the Seals would affect the Salt Lake team. "Im almost positive we will remain the Seals farm club if they move to either Denver or Seattle, Eagles Art Teece said Friday. Even if the Seals are disbanded, several other NHL teams have shown interest in Salt Lake as a farm club. Im confident this city will be a member of the CHL next season. er Moore logs upset If I had my choice, Id rather start, but I think there is more opportunity to get to the big leagues as a reliever, he says. I think starters have an advantage in that they get regular work. On a team like ours that has good starting pitchers, the work is not always plentiful or regular for members of the bull pen. It makes it kind of tough coming situation if you into a pressure-packe- d haven't pitched for awhile. LAS VEGAS, Nev. South African (UPI) Ray Moore whipped defending champion Ros-co- e Tanner Friday night in a quarter-fina- l match of the $150,000 Las Vegas Tennis Classic, A big league future seems in store Jimmy Connors in for the righthander, but right now he is more concerned with keeping a spot on the Salt Lake staff. This team is just loaded with good relief pitchers right now, he said. side-armin- g If Verhoeven keeps pitching the way he did in his first nine appearances, however, there will be plenty of room for him. Entering the current Phoenix Giants vs. Gulls series at Derks Field, Verhoeven had a 0 record, two saves and a 1.89 earned run average. Thats the best ERA on the Gull pitching staff. 3-- 7-- walk-strikeo- Verhoeven will be hoping his stuff is at its best during the Phoenix series, since the Giants are Salt Lakes closest contender in the PCL East. 6-- 7, 6-- 4. It took the lightly regarded Moore 3 hours 15 minutes to defeat Tanner, of Lookout Mountain, Tenn. Moore faces top seeded todays semi-final- s. Connors made it to the semi-final- s against a hard 2 victory fought, over Cliff Richey. Connors has defeated Moore all three times the two have met. In other semi-fina- Moore with 6, 6-- ls competition Saturday, Brian Gottfried meets Ken Rosewall. Gottfried, with some help from swirling winds, whipped Arthur second-seede- d The most impressive stat about Verhoevens work, however, is his ratio. In 19 innings, hes walked only two men while fanning 19, an even one per inning. Ashe of Miami, dashing hopes for a Connors-Ash- e clash. Gottfried needed only straight sets to down Ashe, 6 Both the Verhoevens seem to have a lot going for them. 100 times around the 100-la- p oval track. car race. TODAY 2:00 FMA VS. SIZZLER FAST PITCH SOfTBALL NOON TODAY RESERVATIONS JAGUAR irU1 UNLEASHES WML BE lilt (No. 3) all recorded 13th SO. & WEST TEMPLE wins. 4 I f L jp A NEW BREED OF CAE THE BLSMIWDI IV, IOI N(,t R ( R IN till Races at Time Trials 8 General Admission $3 00 Students ANUFM radio with eight-trac- k tape deck are all standard. Drbe our new breed of cat. the remarkasoon. ble Jaguar GERRY BLACK'S BRITISH AUTO IMPORTS J JS 65th West, 21 at So. K.ds 777 unoer 12 $1.00 ivjvwWi'AwwiWwm1 S. State, Salt Lake City, 531-106- 0 Intermountain West's Largest British leyland Dealer 4 WORl I). tioning. automatic transmission, Come in and see our New Showroom Racing Around XJ-- S. ventional luxury cars. Luxury in the is complete: topgrain leathers, thermostatically controlled air condi- Exciting 363-767- 6 DERKS FIELD nt Jaguars have always been known for their agility rather than brute force. And this new breed of cat is all you expect of Jaguar, car a. drivi R says: "The car seems immune to the laws is powered by of physics." The Jaguars electronically It moves with the smoothness and silence you expect of more con $2 00 (No. 2) At the same time, the Spirits were sinking, because of the lack of fan support. Their owners Ozzie and Daniel Silna, Donald Schupak and Harry Weltman had the loot behind them, but were tired of putting money into the St. Louis market and swimming in red ink (losing $4 million). Everyone knew the Spirits had to move. It was only a question of where to land. Once again, Walters, undaunted in his efforts to get the four players back to Utah, went to the St. Louis owners. After negotiations, Walters and the Spirits made a deal Earl had to come up with $600,000 from local investors and convince the Spirits owners they could sell 3,000 season tickets if they moved to Salt Lake City. Walters knew he had his work cut out for himself. That didnt bother him. He once took the Intermountain Ski Association (almost now) from 1,900 membership to 12,700 in three years. As United States Ski Association President, the membership went from 70,000 to 140,000 in two years. He knew he would have his critics. At his own expense, Earl took four trips to New York and St. Louis to confer with the Spirits owners. They had their squabbles. It was touch and go for a while. On the Disaster Meter, their squabbles came dangerously close to scoring a 10. But W alters felt like Salt Lake City needed the Spirits and they need the former as the parmegiana needs the veal, or Rhoda needs Valerie Harper. Once again, Walters, in giving a little here and taking a little there, won his point. The Spirits got approval from the ABA Board of Trustees to shift to Utah. And now, after 20 hours of negotiations this week between Walters and the Spirits pro basketball will be returning to Utah next fall. And what does Walters get in appreciation for for his efforts? Probably, nothing, but a pat on the back. He doesnt really want it. All he wants is his two seats at the north end of the court at the Salt Palace. d The Most PHOENIX GIANTS What about St. Louis? 6-- V-1- 2. VS. In my opinion the most beautiful arena in the league is the Salt Palace and Ive traveled all around the league on trips with the team, Walters continued. What it boils down to is that Utah is basketball country. Therefore, with good, solid management, it will be a success. So I thought some effort should be made to get a team back here preferably our players, (Randy Denton, Moses Malone, Steve Green and Boone). So Walters, with light-bul- b in hand, struck out in the dark to attempt his feat. First, his search started at Virginia. They were in trouble financially through the whole year. Walters actually helped them with one payroll and got Beaty back to coach them after the Squires management fired Bill Musselman. But Earl could see the walls trumbling around him in Virginia. And he got thinking, If there was a merger between the ABA and NBA, could Virginia exist under those shakey circumstances? Of course, he knew the answer to that question, and with the Squires folding earlier this week, everyone knew the answer. 1975. super stock SALT LAKE GULLS Beautiful Salt Palace Like most of his Gull teammates, Verhoeven is married. He met his wife Kathy while a sophomore at Westmont, and they were married last October. Kathy works as an insurance agent when John is teaching school in the She was named the top first-yea- r agent in her company for Bonneville 100 Deseret News special EPHRIAM Snow College, not losing a match in either singles or ICAC meet by doubles, won a three-wa- y defeating College of Eastern Utah and Dixie here Friday. The Badger netters compiled 18 points compared to CEUs six and Dixies three. For Snow, Clark Barton (No. 1), Ron Ellison (No. 2), Ken Nielson (No. 3), Steve Allred (No. 4), Bob Keller (No. 5), and Ron Winmill (No. 6) all won singles matches. Snows double teams of Barton-Elliso- n n of W.VAVAV.W.V.V,V.V.V Auto SATURDAY Racing Jii big ICAC meet Allred-Nielso- and he is series the championship 9-- Snow netters win (No. 1), baseball, He was called up to Salt Lake from El Paso late last season, and pitched in 8-- Now, however, of pro already getting his second year experience at the Triple A level. 4-- well-pitche- d lik That situation is a Welcome Back type thing, as Valley Christian is Verhoevens alma mater. Since it is a small high school, and since Verhoeven is a pro baseball player now, youd think it would fullow that he starred there. But not so. I was a better basketball player than I was a baseball player at Valley Christian," John says. 1 averaged 15 points as a senior, then played a little junior varsity basketball at Westmont College in Santa Barbara. I was too slow to get far in basketball, however. Verhoevens baseball career at both Valley Christian High and Westmont College was mediocre, but he always maintained the thought that someday he would be a professional pitcher. His record was such at Valley Christian that he did not receive any college baseball scholarship offers. He made the Westmont team as a walk-obut was not exceptional his first season, going I started to put a little weight on a skinny frame around my second year at Westmont, and that helped me, Verhoeven says. I probably gained about 30 pounds between high school graduation and the end of my sophomore year in college. Verhoeven improved his Westmont record to 1 as a sophomore and was 5 as a junior, but still was not attracting any attention from pro scouts. Actually, our college and our opponents were not scouted that much John says. After three anyway, years at Westmont, I was still planning on a pro career, so I thought Id better get to a college with more of a baseball reputation and with more exposure to scouts . I contacted Ben Hines at Laverne College in Pomona, and he was interested. Since both schools involved were NA1A schools, I was able to transfer directly and play my senior year at Laverne without redshirting or losing any eligibility. I compiled a 14-- 1 record with about a 1.20 earned run average as a starter at Laverne. We won the district and regional playoffs and finished third in the national NAIA tourney." That performance did attract scouts, and Verhoeven was selected 12th While John was slow developing as an amateur player, he has advanced rapidly as pro. This is only his third n, the luxury of carrying a big stick. With newly acquired Reggie Jack-so- n sitting out the first month of the season because of a salary dispute, the Orioles languished near the bottom of the American League East standings, hitting collectively not much better than .200. They were scaring no one. four-hitte- h in the summer draft by the California Angels in 1974. Considering I'd had only one good year in baseball that was really competitive, maybe I should have been surprised at being drafted, but I wasnt, Verhoeven said. I had never let the goal of a pro baseball career leave my mind. Ii. fact, I really expected it to happen all along. By Brent Checketts s, rightBillingham, a hander who hadnt pitched a complete game since August of last year, pitched r and Bench, returned to the a five games with an after missing lineup injured knee, and drove in three runs a homer and a sacrifice fly Friday night to lead the Cincinnati Reds to a 1 triumph over the New York Mets. In posting his fourth win against only two losses, Billingham blanked the Mots through eight innings before homer losing his shutout on a pinch-hi- t His ninth. the in Ayala by Benny performance drew raves from Reds manager Sparky Anderson, who seldom lets his starters pilch a complete game. Thats four straight said games in a row for Jack, Anderson. Billingham also seems to be a good charm for Bench. The Reds has had some of his best days at the plate when Billingham was on the mound for Cincinnati. All I know, said Bench, is that I seem to hit good every time Jack 12 pitches. One season I think I hit about homers in games he started.' I think thats the longest stretch Ive ever been out of the starting lineup. And, believe me, its not easy sitting there in the dugout and watching. In other NL games, Los Angeles Philadelphia nipped Pittsburgh San Diego topped beat Houston Chicago 4 and St. Louis downed San Montreal at Atlanta was Francisco rained out. Ted Kubiak knocked in three runs and Fred Kendall drove in two to spark San Diegos victory over Chicago. Brent Strom worked six innings for the Padres to gain his fourth win in five decisions. Ron Fairly singled home two nins in the sixth inning to give the Cardinals a PflTTion despite critics National Hockey now a reality Gust-coache- e. 7 Walters won League President Clar ence Campbell revealed Friday that Mel Swig, owner of the Seals, has sent him official notice that he intends to exercise his right to sell the club outside the San Francisco Area. While this notification is merely a formality that enables Swig to keep open his options, pursuant to an agreement he signed with the NHL last year, there is a distinct possibility that he will follow through. According to Campbell, Swig was unable to secure the backing he needed for the construction of a new arena on the old Yula Buena site in downtown San Francisco, leaving the Seals to remain in the Oakland-Alamed- a County Arena, which has a limited seating capacity of about VerhoeverVs dream st Rolls-Royc- A 11,500. h By United Press International All it takes is a high performance battery like Jack Billingham and JohnBig Red ny Bench to make the Machine perform like a 1976 PHILADELPHIA 3-- A Reds topple Dfln The financially (UPI) troubled California Seals have cleared the way for a possible move or sale, and should they decide to leave the Bay Area their likely destination is Denver. 3--A Hes just a good pitcher, Lay adds. Hes a great kid. Sometimes we a expect too much of him everytime. That could be our trouble, too. We have to decide to do the job and not wait for him to perform super feats all the time. schedule Hurst gets his first start Tuesday at 12:30 p.m, in the tournament Monday at Ken Price Park Box Elder vs. Cottonwood 12:30 P.m. against American Fork, the Region Six West vs. HIHcrest, 3 p.m. 11 the Granger vs. Roy, 5:30 p.m. champion against Flyers Region Granite vs. Clearfield, 8 P.m. kings. Schedule You cant go into a tournament Tuesday at Ken Price American Pork vs. Dixie, 12:30 P.m. without confidence in yourself and your Murray vs. Carbon, 3 p.m. team, responded Hurst. I learned Bingham vt.Paysort 5:30 P.m. Jordan vs. Spanish Fork, a p.m. that in the American Legion tournaschedule ment last summer for sure. I was scared facing the bigger schools. Now, I Wednesday at BYU have confidence I can do it. SemMinals winner vs. fjhiei iac, 9 a.m. I think we have a good chance at East Carbon vs. Parowan, 11 a.m. South vs. Sevier tournament. p.m. the Emery, Were starting winning Moab vs. Grantsviite, 3 p.m. to hit the ball and our defense is to we shine need it. when starting It was a defensive letdown in the American Legion tournament game against the eventual champion Hill-crethat ruined Hursts and Dixies d chances of upsetting the Don crew. Young Bruce has fanned 12 of the first 17 hitters he faced before eventually losing on mental errors. but like he Hurst throws puts it, Ive always relied on my fast ball, but Ive been working on my change and curve more this season. The big thing Ive learned this season Ls that you dont always have a good game. Ive learned to take the ups with the downs. I guess you can say Ive matured a lot. Like Hardy, the Dixie hurler has had Major League scouts at every game he pitched this spring. Theyve been talking to me, he admits. It bothered me at first, but Ive learned to accept it. It doesnt bother me, now. They can't do anything until the draft. Thats what Im waiting for right now. Ive got some scholarship offers, but I want to see what team and contract I can get in Dixie's Bruce Hurst has major the draft. Im leaning more toward baseball scouts drooling at his 6--0 record. or r DESERET NEWS WEEKEND OF MAY 15, V move from Bay Area than basketball, because basketball would be a real transition for me. Ive been used to playing the inside in high school and Id have to play the outside in college. In baseball, well, I dontknow. Im not a great hitter. The only thing I can do is pitch. He's not bad at that. Bruce has the frame to add more weight. The scouts feel thats no he pointed out. problem for me, "Theyve seen my brothers and theyre quite big. So the scouts have just told me to run and things like that. The tournament setup bothers Lay, some. The tournament depends so much on pitching, Don explains. The championship goes sometimes to the team with the best pitching staff, but not the best overall team. I would like to see the tournament stretch over several weekends and not for a whole week. Hurst cant pitch everyday. Ive got one pitcher and two throwers. If I can get lucky and have everything fall in place, IJl be able to surprise a few people. Dixie is 13-- 5 this spring and defeated Cedar City, a usual powerhouse four straight times this spring to qualify out of Region 11. People in St. George and American Fork are still talking about their e semifinal matchup in basketball, so their Tuesday matchup in baseball should prove interesting. m oj-- w I |
