Versatility Pays Bonus for Dodgers

Although the move was born of desperation, switching first baseman Rick Allen to shortstop has loomed as an act of inspiration by the Valley Dodgers in the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kan.

Allen, who attended Calabasas High before playing at Fresno State and Moorpark College, spent the summer as the Dodgers’ regular season first baseman. But when middle infielders Rod Stillwell and Ed Zosky were unable to make the trip east for the 30-team, double-elimination tournament, Allen was pressed into service.

“He was a corner man, playing first and third base at Moorpark and Fresno, but he was an all-league shortstop at Calabasas,” Dodger General Manager Dave Desmond said Saturday. “We knew he could do the job for us at shortstop. Besides, he’s all we’ve got.”

Allen played a flawless game in the field Saturday and added his second home run of the series as the Dodgers defeated the Greensboro Brewers of North Carolina, 8-2, Saturday at Eck Stadium at Wichita State University. Allen has eight home runs to share the team lead with Rob Scott.

Allen had two hits to raise his tournament average to .308 and also knocked in two runs to back the complete-game pitching of Fred Riscen, who has both Dodger wins in the series. Riscen (8-1) allowed one earned run on nine hits and two walks and struck out five.

Riscen, who will play at Texas A&M; next season, stranded eight runners and worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the second.

Right fielder Bob Allen, no relation to Rick, hit his first home run of the season, a solo shot in the ninth, and added a run-scoring double in the Dodgers’ four-run fourth. Allen, an All-City player at Granada Hills and a walk-on at UCLA this spring, made the defensive play of the game, throwing out a runner at the plate in the third.

Mike Cruz added two hits and two runs batted in, and Lorenzo Lesky had three hits to make him 6 for 12 in the series.

The Dodger third baseman also scored a run despite playing the first three innings with a bloody nose. His uniform looked like a boxer’s trunks as blood spilled onto his jersey and pants. Between innings he iced his forehead and the bridge of his nose, both to stop the bleeding and seek relief from the near 100-degree heat.

“I didn’t sleep much last night and I was running a temperature,” he said Saturday. “I’m fighting swollen glands, too.”

Lesky insisted he would be in today’s lineup when the Dodgers play Liberal, Kan., in an 11:30 a.m. (CDT) game at Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. The Dodgers (31-7-1), who are 2-1 in the tournament, are expected to start Darrin Beer (4-0) against Liberal, seeded seventh in the tournament. The teams met last year in a non-tournament game in Kansas, won by Liberal, 7-2.

The Dodgers struck for two runs in the first off Greensboro starter Doug Jones when Rick Allen followed a walk to Sean Collins with a two-run home run. Lesky started the team’s four-run fourth with a single and scored on Cruz’s double.

Chris Haslock doubled home Cruz and scored one out later on Bob Allen’s double. Collins then singled home Allen.

The Dodgers completed the scoring with single runs in the eighth and ninth. Scott singled in the eighth, moved to second on a ground out and scored on Cruz’s single. Allen led off the ninth with a home run.

The defeat eliminated Greensboro (23-4), which earlier eliminated the North Pole Nicks from the tournament. Mike Byers led the Brewers with two hits off Riscen, including a solo home run.