Gulls Throw One Away; Five-Game Streak Ends

In the ninth inning, Greg Myers, the Ventura County Gulls catcher, unloaded a powerful throw. It sliced through the air in a blur, traveling about 130 feet on a line.

Unfortunately for Myers and the Gulls, he was throwing from home plate to first base at the time, and that distance is only 90 feet.

When the ball finally came to a halt in right field, so had a couple of streaks. The Salinas Spurs’ 3-2 victory over the Gulls at Ventura College on Saturday in a Class-A California League game snapped Ventura County’s five-game win streak and the Spurs’ four-game losing skid.

The teams entered the ninth inning tied, 2-2, but Salinas loaded the bases with no outs on a double by designated hitter Dan Clark and walks to Greg Fulton and Ric Wilson. The second walk by relief pitcher Tom Wasilewski was intentional, designed to bring shortstop Tom Krause to the plate.

Salinas countered with pinch-hitter Dave Stewart, and he hit the first pitch to first baseman Domingo Martinez, who threw home to force out Clark. But as Myers cocked his arm for the return throw to first, Clark slid and caught the catcher’s right leg with his spikes. Myers’ leg buckled and the ball careened wildly into right field. Fulton scored easily from second with the winning run.

“I didn’t anticipate getting hit,” Myers said. “I caught the ball, kept my right leg on the plate and just unloaded it. But just as I let the ball go, he caught my leg with his foot. He swept it right out from under me. My whole body went backwards and the ball just took off. The guy (Stewart) running to first wasn’t very fast, and I thought we had him.

“But I never had a chance. As I unloaded the ball, the runner unloaded on me at home. It was a clean hit. He just did his job. He had to do it. It was a pretty lousy way to lose a game.”

Gulls Manager Glenn Ezell didn’t see the contact at home. When the out was made, he quickly glanced back to first, anticipating the double play. What he saw instead was a small white missile soaring so far over the head of Martinez that the first baseman didn’t even consider jumping for it.

“Greg just didn’t clear himself out of there quick enough,” Ezell said. “But you’ve got to give credit to the guy coming down the line. Ballplayers are taught to disrupt those types of plays any way they can, and he certainly did that. That’s just a good play on his part.”

It wasn’t the first run of the day that scored on an error. The Gulls had taken a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a throwing error that made Myers’ errant toss look as accurate as a laser-guided rocket.

Center fielder Ken Kinnard was on first after a leadoff single, and on the second windup by pitcher Don Neufelder, Kinnard broke for second. But Neufelder had Kinnard cleanly picked off--except that his throw to first nearly cleared the chain-link fence 30 feet behind the bag. Kinnard came all the way around to score.

Salinas took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on run-scoring singles by Fulton and Krause, but Ventura County tied the score at two in the bottom of the fourth on another miscue.

Martinez led off the inning with a sharp double down the right-field line, and moved to third on a groundout. Neufelder then threw a 59-foot fastball that slammed into the dirt in front of the plate and rolled to the backstop as Martinez scored.

The Gulls had a chance to regain the lead in the seventh after Myers walked, stole second and went to third on a single to left. But Neufelder got Sandy Guerrero to pop one up for the first out, reliever Steve Rousy retired Oscar Escobar on another pop fly, and left-hander Bill Mendek ended the threat by striking out Rob Ducey.

The Gulls went meekly in the bottom of the ninth as Mendek retired Myers and Omar Malave before ending the game with a called third strike against Guerrero.

William Shanks pitched seven innings for the Gulls, allowing seven hits and two runs. Wasilewski (1-2) took the loss. Neufelder struck out five Gulls in 6 innings before being relieved by Rousy. Mendek got the win, his first decision of the season.