Aztecs’ Pitching Gives Padre Batters a Chance to Play Some Long Ball

The Padres had gone more than a week without a home run, but they made up for that a bit Friday night.

Three homers helped the Padres to a 9-1 victory over San Diego State in an exhibition game played in front of a crowd of 30,047 at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium.

The Padres had hit just nine home runs this spring, the last on March 23 by Carmelo Martinez. Granted, Friday’s outburst was against college pitching, but Padre Manager Larry Bowa wasn’t complaining.

“We haven’t seen too many in spring training,” he said. “It seems like in April the ball really flies out of here.”

Shortstop Garry Templeton started the home run binge in the second inning. With one run already in, Templeton pulled a drive over the right-field fence with Benito Santiago on base.

Pitcher Andy Hawkins continued the second-inning rally with a single. He moved to second on a single by Stanley Jefferson and to third on a walk to Tony Gwynn and scored San Diego’s fourth run of the inning on a passed ball.

Next in line to clear the bases was Jefferson in the fourth. Templeton opened the inning with a double to right, and one out later, Jefferson hit a homer to left-center.

A bases-empty home run in the sixth inning by Keith Moreland extended the Padre lead to 7-0. For Moreland, who is expected to supply some power in the lineup, it was the first homer of the spring.

The Padres added their final two runs in the seventh with the help of two San Diego State errors.

SDSU scored its lone run in the eighth, thanks mostly to the speed of freshman center fielder Tim Barry. He reached base on a fielder’s choice, stole second, tagged and went to third on a fly out to right and scored when Gwynn’s throw bounced away from third baseman Tim Flannery.

Hawkins picked up the victory, his third of the spring against two losses. In five innings, he gave up 3 hits, no runs and no walks and struck out 5.

Eric Nolte pitched three innings of one-hit relief, walking 3 and striking out 3. Lance McCullers pitched a hitless and scoreless ninth with one strikeout.

“I thought McCullers threw the ball really well,” Bowa said. “In fact, all our pitchers threw well. It’s kind of hard to gauge (against college hitters), but McCullers had good velocity.”

No one from San Diego State got more than one hit. Starter Don Mossette went 1 innings and took the loss.

The Padres decided Friday to send second-year outfielder Shane Mack to triple-A Las Vegas and keep rookie outfielder Shawn Abner on the 24-man roster.

Though the decision wasn’t surprising, it was made earlier than expected. The Padres figured to make a move on the two outfielders today or Sunday while in Las Vegas to play their final exhibition games against the Stars.

But Bowa said: “I don’t think it would have been fair to the players to stretch them along. It gives Mack a chance to drive to Vegas and takes the pressure off Abner.”

Bowa said Mack’s problems with right-handed pitching and Abner’s rapid progress were the main reasons for the decision.

Mack, 24, was promoted to the Padres on May 24 last season and hit .239 in 238 at-bats.

Abner, 21, hit .277 in 16 games with the Padres last season. He had a .302 average in spring training and played aggressively on defense, Bowa said.

“I don’t know what my job will be here,” Abner said. “Whatever it is, I’ll do my best. I don’t like sitting the bench. I won’t cause any trouble, but whenever I get a chance, I want to prove I can do the job.”

Bowa said if Abner continues to play well, he will push Jefferson for the starting job in center field.

After learning he had made the team, Abner said the first people he called were his wife and father. “My dad said he was going to sell the pool table and buy a satellite dish,” Abner said.

Padre Notes

San Diego’s final roster move was to place pitcher Dave Leiper on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to March 27. Leiper, a left-handed reliever, is suffering from tendinitis in his left elbow. He pitched 7 innings in nine games during the Cactus League season with an 0-1 record, 1 save and 6.14 earned run average. . . . Eric Show is scheduled to pitch today’s game against Las Vegas. Mark Grant and Jimmy Jones will get the call Sunday against the Stars. . . . In the Padres’ first appearance in front of the home crowd, catcher Benito Santiago, the 1987 National League rookie of the year, and Tony Gwynn, last year’s batting champion, received the biggest ovations. . . . Very few National League pitchers can put a collar on Gwynn, but the Aztecs hung an 0-for-4 night on him. . . . The Padres attracted 49,183 fans to their 12 Cactus League games in Yuma, an average of 4,095. . . . Jack Skoog, a quarterback for the San Diego State football team, pitched three innings of relief and turned in a respectable performance. He gave up two runs on three hits with three walks and two strikeouts.