The Town Talk from Alexandria, Louisiana • Page 7

Tuesday, August 8, 1989 Alwcanbria Datlg Eottm talk NSU starts practice, B-2 Ungodly scams, B-5 'Refrigerator' a special problem for Edelman "It's not a serious injury, but sprained knee; Mayes has tendonitis in his right Achilles, Cadore a sprained knee and Phillips a hamstring pull. On Monday, outside linebacker Walter Johnson was pulled out of Monday's morning workout when his back muscles spasmed again. He was back at practice in the afternoon Offensive tackle Jeff Walker missed both sessions with flu, but Mora said he is expected back on the field today. Tight end Hoby Brenner went down with a sprained left knee and was sent back to New Orleans for an examination. LA Wis.

(AP) Brad Edelman added two more slices of fried potatoes to his lunch plate at New Orleans Saints training camp. "I've got to get up to 310 pounds for the next couple of days," he said. Edelman, 6-foot-6 and 270 pounds, is lining up in pass protection drills against William "The Refrigerator" Perry of the Chicago Bears. Perry is 6-2 and 320. The Bears arrived by bus from their training camp at Platteville, Wis for three days of work against the Saints.

See COOPER, a related story, B-2 Bears Coach Mike Ditka said Perry presents a special problem for offensive linemen "Not too many people block him one-on-one," Ditka said. Edelman and Perry faced each other four times in pass rush drills in Monday's morning workout, and each won two. Edelman stopped Perry cold at the line of scrimmage the first time, and then, after Perry Hetzel trying to stay in Boston J.i-.'WV- A itnimn inirli-, it's going to keep him out a while," Mora said. Wide receiver Eric Martin's right knee puffed up, and trainers kept him out of pads. "It's the same stuff," Mora said.

"The aggravation of two-a-days. He went through it last year, and he'll probably have to rest it every so often this year, too." Mora hopes for more practices like Monday's "We had two great practices today," Mora said. "If we can have three more like this before they leave, I'll be tickled pink." Alexandria eliminated from series By John D'Aquila Staff reporter LAUREL, Miss. A seventh-inning two-out rally fell way short, and defending champion Alexanria was eliminated from the Dixie Majors World Series here Monday afternoon Florida pitcher Tyrone Miller limited Alexandria to six hits in a 7-3 win, while his teammates reached Alexandria pitchers for eight hits, including a two-run homer by Ronnie McGill that gave Florida a 5-3 lead in the sixth inning. The game began in harried fashion for Alexandria.

Florida racked Jimmy Rushworth for four hits and three runs in the first inning. Rushworth had pitched three perfect innings against South Carolina in a 7-1 victory Saturday. Rushworth settled down to retire the side in the next two innings, and Alexandria tied the score with three runs in the third. Scored on balk Ricky Powell led off with a walk and later scored on a passed ball. Russell Abraham, who singled, scored on a balk and Rushworth, who walked, scored on Todd Nash's single.

Then the Alexandria bats went silent. Miller set the side down in order for three consecutive innings before yielding a pair of two-out singles in the seventh. "Our bats went dead," said Alexandria coach Roger Bell. "We've got too good a ball club to score just three runs. That's the bottom line.

The score remained 3-3 until the sixth inning. Craig Bradshaw relieved Rushworth at the start of the fourth inning and, for the most part, stilled the Florida bats until the sixth. Florida's half of the sixth began routinely, with a pop-up to second base and a strikeout. Walked Then Bradshaw worked the count full on Mike McKinley. He fired a fast ball over the plate that McKinley barely foul tipped out of the grasp of catcher Derek Jowers.

The next pitch was a ball and McKinley walked. Then McGill stepped to the plate. He had struck out swinging his first two trips, once against Rushworth and once against Bradshaw. After getting ahead in the count 1 and 2, Bradshaw fired a high fastball that McGill crushed over the left field fence for a two-run lead. "He had just walked a batter and lost his concentration," said Bell.

"That kid just hit his mistake." Bradshaw agreed. "It just wasn't our year," Bradshaw said. "We (the pitchers) really just didn't have our stuff. We came down here for a reason. There are no excuses." See ALEXANDRIA, B-3 assault case Duper, 30, participated in the Dolphins' scrimmage Saturday against the Atlanta Falcons in Suwanee, Ga.

Suwanee police were summoned to the Holiday Inn late Friday by a woman who said she had been attacked. The case was turned over to Gwinnett County police. Walton said two women, ages 18 and 19, were involved in the case as was some beer. "Everything from this investigation shows that it was purely consentuaL" Walton said. Duper could not be reached by phone for drew 1,500 working out alone.

Saints Coach Jim Mora said the players seemed more focused on their jobs because of the crowd. "Sure, and that's expected. The concentration level, the seriousness of it, was more gamelike," he said. "That's why this is so good, working against another team. The level of concentration is just a little bit better." Center Steve Korte, running back Rueben Mayes, wide receiver Michael Cadore and cor-nerback Kim Phillips were again held out of practice because of injuries.

Korte has a Sox pitches in a recent game He struck out seven and walked one. The 25-year-old red head turned in probably his worst performance of the year on July 31 in Boston as Baltimore struck for eight hits and five runs in only 3 innings. He allowed homers to Keith More-land and Joe Orsulak, but Boston came back to win "I'm usually a power pitcher, but in that game I wasn't," Hetzel said with a sick laugh. Things got worse Things got worse in Hetzel's next appearance Aug. 2 against the Orioles.

In Vi of an inning of relief, he walked three, allowed a hit and three runs and got the loss. Hetzel currently has a 5.17 ERA in six starts and one relief appearance. LSU coach Skip Bertman says Hetzel made it to the majors because he developed a forkball a pitch he didn use at LSU and the 38 extra offers value on him, he has not changed his original demand to the Baltimore Orioles." If the Orioles sweetened their offer, McDonald would listen, Boras said. "The negotiations have been amicable and the lines of communication are still open," Boras said. Top rating McDonald was 14-4 with a 3.49 ERA and 202 strikeouts as a junior at LSU this year.

The Major League Scouting Bureau gave him its highest rating ever for a pitcher. "I've represented 19 first-round picks and I've never asked for a major league contract before," Boras said. "The uniqueness of Ben McDonald's talent is an issue here jumped offsides, moved him out of his rushing lane. Perry won the third one with a straight, quick power move, blowing past Edelman without a pause. Their fourth snap was closer, but Perry also won that one with a bull rush In the afternoon, Perry jumped offsides and knocked Edelman into a half cartwheel.

On the next snap, Edelman had steered Perry past the passer when Perry picked him up and body-slammed him. A crowd of 3,411, three deep in spots, lined the fences around the five practice fields. Two Sundays ago, the Saints Eric Hetzel of the Boston Red crowd of 48,639. Hetzel quieted the crowd by limiting the Blue Jays to three hits in 5 innings. He struck out four and got his major league career off to a 1-0 start That same night in Yankee Stadium, New York Yankee Clay Parker, Hetzel's former teammate at LSU, went 6 innings to beat Milwaukee 5-1 Hetzel didn't fare as well against the Yankees in a nationally televised game July 8.

He went 5 V4 innings in a no-decision, allowing five runs on four hits Parker and Hetzel visited that weekend but balls and strikes didn't come up. "When I see Clay, we hardly ever talk about baseball. Just other things." Hetzel, 1-2 on the season, has no other win to talk about since Toronto. One of his two losses was a 1-0 job to the Chicago White Sox in which he allowed only four hits in 7 innings. declining "We made our offer," Orioles president Larry Lucchino said.

"We have reiterated our offer. It's there for Ben McDonald. It's an extraordinary offer for Ben McDonald." The deal is the second-biggest ever offered an amateur player, exceeded only by the three-year, contract given to Bo Jackson in 1986 by the Kansas City Royals. The Royals outbid the NFL's Tampa Bay Bucaneers, who made Jackson the first pick in the 1986 draft. Boras said McDonald would sign with the Orioles if the team meets the original demands or offers a contract simi-liar to Jackson's.

"Ben has not changed his demands from the beginning," Boras said. "Even though an external market has put a i Qf3JN ERIC HETZEL Boston starting pitcher Major League status: Major League statistics: 1-2, 5.17 ERA Minor league stops: Greensboro, Cn 1985 Injured 1986 Winter Haven Ba 1987 Pawtucket, FU-, 1988-89 Drafted: 1st round, 1985 LSU years: 1985 Age: 25 Hometown; Crowley, La. Town Talk and they called me up His first visit to the Big Show brought new meaning to the term "uneventful." He didn't throw a single pitch. "They told me they were going to use me in the bullpen the first couple of days and then work me into the rotation," Hetzel said. Got boring "It was fun up there the first few days, but then it wasn't because I was used to pitching every fifth day.

I just sat around and did nothing." "We just never got a chance to use him," said Red Sox pitching coach Bill Fisher. Then Gardner, now Boston's fifth starter, came off the disabled list and Hetzel was back in Pawtucket on June 12 The layoff not only rudely awakened Hetzel from his major league dreams, it also hurt his pitching. In his first start back in Pawtucket, he said he "ran out of gas" after throwing well for the first five innings and took a loss. But in his next start, he revitalized and shut out Buffalo in nine innings with 12 strikeouts. He then struck out 10 in a nine-inning, 2-1 loss.

Boston manager Joe Morgan, criticized in Boston for not pitching Hetzel during the 20-day stretch, took notice. "He pitched better in Pawtucket and almost forced us to call him back," Morgan told the Associated Press. On June 30, Hetzel got his second call from Boston. Twenty-four hours later he was preparing to start a game at Toronto before a record keeps on referring to the proposed league that was conceived by David Lefevre, a New York attorney and former minority owner ot tne Houston Astros and Cleveland Indians. According to newspapers in Baltimore and Washington, representatives of the new league have offered McDonald two-year contract worth $2 million.

Boras and McDonald met with backers of the new league last week in New York. $300,000 bonus The Orioles have offered McDonald a package worth more than $600,000. The offer includes a signing bonus of $300,000 a guaranteed contract for 1990 and an option year for 1991 "The Baltimore Orioles tendered an offer last Friday, and Ben McDonald has declined," Boras said. This is the fourth of a five-part series on former LSU baseball players in the major leagues. By Glenn Guilbeau Staff reporter For Crowley native Eric Hetzel, the distance between Pawtucket, R.I.

and Boston is about $4,000 every two weeks That's the difference in paychecks between pitching for the Class AAA Pawtucket Red Sox and the major league Boston (Mass.) Red Sox, where he is drawing the $68,000 minimum annual salary. Losing that $4,000 is an issue each time the former LSU pitcher takes the mound for the Red Sox. "Everything's a lot nicer with Boston than with Pawtucket," Hetzel said last week from his home in North Providence, R.I. "The travel, the money. We seem to be enjoying it a lot more." How long Eric and his wife Catherine, a former Crowley Rice Festival queen, enjoy Boston depends on how well Hetzel pitches "Going back down to the minors has been in the back of my mind every time I pitch" Hetzel said.

"But I need to get that out of my mind. You can't worry about it. I just have to go out there and pitch." Hetzel's latest concern is a strained muscle in his forearm that turned up in his last start Wednesday night against the Baltimore Orioles. Hetzel lasted only of an inning that night in his first relief appearance, giving up three runs, a hit and three walks. On Monday he was placed on the 21-day disabled list retroactive to Aug.

3. A first-round choice out of LSU in the secondary phase of the 1985 draft, Hetzel is in his second go-round in Boston this summer and arm injuries are nothing new, either. He was first called up on May 24 when starting pitcher Wes Gardner was disabled. That ended a rocky four-year journey in the minors for Hetzel, who led LSU to the 1985 Southeastern Conference West Division crown with a 10-4 record. He played Class A ball at Greensboro, N.C., in 1985 and went 7-5 but missed all of the 1986 season because of a slipped disc.

He returned in 1987 to go 10-12 for Winter Haven, another Red Sox Class A team. Elbow problem Last year he skipped Class AA to pitch for Pawtucket, but a right elbow problem sidelined him for almost a month and he finished 6-10. Then a 6-2 start with a ERA this summer in Pawtucket got him on May 24 the phone call he's always dreamed of. "It was a big surprise," Hetzel said. "There was nothing in the papers about any of the guys being hurt.

But the Red Sox said they were putting Gardner on the disabled list, McDonald BALTIMORE (AP) The Baltimore Orioles appear to be losing the race for Ben McDonald to an invisible opponent a baseball league without franchises that has yet to play one game. McDonald, the first player selected in June's free agent draft, has declined the Orioles' most recent offer and will decide in the next 10 days whether he will join the proposed league that plans to begin play in 1990. "Ben has evaluated offers from the Baltimore Orioles and from the external market," McDonald's agent, Scott Boras, said in a telephone interview from his office in Pomona, Calif. Boras declined to elaborate on what he meant by an open market. But he apparently was a Associated Press pounds he's put on since leaving college "That happens a lot.

The pitchers that make it develop another pitch," Bertman said. "Plus Eric's so much bigger and stronger now." "At LSU I weighed 170 pounds," Hetzel said. "Now I'm about 208. I lifted during the off-seasons. I needed to.

I was real, real skinny at LSU. I knew it wouldn't hurt. Fisher doesn't foresee any more return trips to Pawtucket for Hetzel unless it's a rehabilitation assignment. "He's doing all right," Fisher said. "He's got a 90 mile-per-hour fastball, a slider and a good forkball.

I'd say he's got a good chance of finishing the season with us." That way Hetzel can continue passing through Pawtucket on his hour drive north to Boston. Next: New York Yankee Clay Parker Duper sexual needs evidence to reopen MIAMI AP) Authorities say they do not plan to reopen the sexual assault probe of Miami Dolphins receiver Mark Duper unless new evidence emerges. "They spent pretty much all day (Saturday) on it and find no justification to substantiate the charge," said Larry Walton, public information officer for Gwinnett County police in suburban Atlanta. Duper, suspended 30 days last year for violating the NFL's substance abuse policy, returned to Miami accompanied by" the team's security director..