Great Falls Tribune from Great Falls, Montana • Page 11

3 8rgrts Scoreboard 2B Goodwill Games roundup 3B Sportscope 3B The Baseball Page. 4B Great Falls Tribune Tuesday, July 24, 1990 Pitcher gets revenge for Brewers, himself Whitewashed GREAT FALLS obrh bl Mondesi cf 4 0 10 Mm. 1 i Ingram dh 'tz HELENA Hood cf MCarter Castoldo 3b TCarter lb Coble If lores Glenn dh Dlggs 2b Norris rf 4 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 4 0 2 0 3 0 0 0 ab bl 4 2 10 5 0 3 0 4 0 3 2 son 5 0 0 0 4 0 10 4 0 0 0 3 10 0 2 100 34tl Maurer ss Busch lb Smith If Watts 3b Perez Andrews oh Franhffer 2b Blackwell rf Totals they needed in the third inning, on Vince Castaldo's two-out single. The left-handed Castaldo, a smooth-swinging third baseman from the University of Kentucky, added a run-scoring hit in the fifth, also with two out, and contributed a walk to Helena's rally in the seventh which happened again with two down. The Dodgers, meanwhile, could do nothing with Miller.

The righthander faced four men per inning until the eighth, when Garey Ingram singled sharply and Ron Maurer walked leading off the frame. 10 0 0 4 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 33 0 5 0 Totals Helena 001 010 000 000 110- 000- Great Falls E-MCarter, TCarter 2, Dlgas, Busch, Watts. Falls 9. 2B Ingram. LOB-Helena II, Great Norris.

ER BB SO SB-Mondesi, Hood, Diggs, II Helena Miller 3-3 Archer Great Falls Martinez 3-2 DeJarld Jacinto WP-Martlnez, DeJarld. lit JT-v By SCOTT MANSCH Tribune Sports Writer Last Wednesday night, Helena pitcher Pat Miller'was knocked all over the place and finally out of the game in the first inning as the Great Falls Dodgers romped to a 14-3 win. Monday night at Legion Park he got even. "I really wanted to beat this team," said Miller after pitching the Brewers to a 4-0 victory over the Great Falls. "I knew I could beat them.

Last week I was over-throwing. I couldn't get my slider over I wasn't throwing it hard enough. "But this is a fastball-hitting team and tonight my slider was working. It's my out pitch." Miller allowed only five hits through eight innings and reliever Kurt Archer mopped up in the ninth as the Brewers stymied the Dodgers before a subdued crowd of 2,935. It was the opener of a five-game homestand for Great Falls.

"We pitched good and we had clutch hits," said Helena manager Gary Calhoun. "Last week (Miller) didn't throw worth a hoot against these guys but tonight he pitched great." The slider, a pitch that looks like a fastball until quickly diving away from right-handed hitters, was But Mike Busch's long drive to right field sliced just foul, and he subsequently popped up. Ira Smith drove one deep to left center and Burgess Watts followed with a liner to right, but both were caught. Pedro Martinez (3-2) got the loss for Great Falls, despite fanning seven in six innings. The hard-throwing teen-ager had plenty of support in Helena last Wednesday night.

"I wanted to beat him so bad, because he's probably the best pitcher in the league. I know he's the hardest thrower," said Miller. DODGER NOTES: Infielder Tim Griffin will be out of action two weeks with a sore shoulder. what Miller credited. Sure enough, the Dodgers are sliding fast from their perch atop the Northern Division standings.

Great Falls leads Billings, which won Monday night, by IVi games. The Brewers trail by four games. The Dodgers have lost four straight at home, and six of their last 10 overall. Manager Joe Vavra doesn't have to be reminded. "You've got to have that extra drive when you play at home," he said.

"This is our ballpark and these are our people. That's the edge you need. Lately we haven't been playing well enough to get it." The Breweis scored the only run Tribune Photo by Wayne Arnst Helena Brewers' baserunner Mike Norris slides into home and Dodgers' catcher Junior Perez for the Brewers' first run in their 4-0 win Monday night at Legion Park. The two teams meet again Tuesday night at 7 p.m. Many miles from the Motor City Helena pitcher Miller strives to impress his No.

1 hero 0 By TOM WATTS Associated Press Writer HELENA Pat Miller was 1,743 miles from Detroit, and he had packed lightly. The 22-year-old right-hander was out of his element, but it didn't matter. He arrived equipped with a major league slider and a famous last name. "I didn't know where Helena was," Miller recalled. "I said, 'This can't The Milwaukee Brewers picked Miller in the 19th round of the 1990 Major League baseball draft and assigned him to their Helena rookie-league affiliate in the Pioneer League.

"I'm looking to make someone proud," he said. "It's my chance." Brewers soon to get new home By SCOTT MANSCH Tribune Sports Writer Milwaukee County Stadium, suddenly one of the oldest ballparks in the American League, is probably living on borrowed time. With the imminent demise of Chicago's Commiskey Park, and the recent ransacking of Metropolitan Stadium in Minnesota, only Yankee Stadium, Fenway Park, Tiger Stadium and Cleveland's Municipal Stadium own senior status compared with County Stadium. But soon Tiger Stadium will be gone, replaced by a new park in Detroit. Tigers executive Bo Schembechier said recently that Tigers fans should expect a new stadium in Detroit within five years.

Fans in Milwaukee can expect the same, although nothing has been made official yet. If the park is indeed dispatched, it would hit this fan in the heart. After all, County Stadium is a special place. It's where I first heard those magic words: "Gimme a brat in "I've always had this dream since I was a little kid to make it in pro ball," said Pat Miller. "I want to be just like my dad." Miller knew little about the Pioneer League which also includes Butte, Great Falls and Billings in Montana, Idaho Falls and Pocatello in Idaho, Salt Lake City, and Medicine Hat in Canada.

But he probably was relieved to hear that players like Cecil Fielder, Ryne Sandberg and Julio Franco all started their pro careers in the Pioneer League. "I've always been a starter, and I think they like me as a starter," Miller said. "I'm going to be a pitcher who's not going to dominate, but I'm going to throw a lot of strikes and not walk people." Helena Brewers pitching coach Mike Coombs agrees. "He has good command of his pitches, good knowledge, and he gets ahead of the hitter," Coombs said. "He can pick the spots." With his shutout win Monday over the Great Falls Dodgers, Miller sports a 3-3 record with 38 strikeouts and eight walks in 41 innings pitched, an excellent strikeout-walks ratio.

In his first start for the Brewers, Miller gave up five runs in three innings. "I was nervous against Billings," he said. "I've never pitched in front of big crowds." But Miller got his rhythm back in his second outing, throwing a three-hitter. He then pitched a seven-hit complete game victory before being See MILLER, 2B Bob Mllier the sauce." It's where I first saw that famous promotion: Nickel Beer Night. It's where I first saw a legendary ballplayer: Henry Aaron.

Growing of age in Milwaukee was a great deal for a kid 20 years or so ago. County Stadium was a major reason. It was 1970 that the Brewers limped in from Seattle, rid themselves of a sickly ballpark (Sick's Stadium) and took up shop in County Stadium. The ballyard, with its traditional bleachers, made-for-tailgate-parties parking, excellent sightlines and easy access, has always been a hit in Wisconsin. To tear it down in favor of a new and improved, multi-million dollar facility might be progress.

It might be prudent, and even feasible. But it's also too bad. That "someone" is Miller's father, Bob who pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1950s and has been baseball coach at the University of Detroit for 28 years. "He's my hero, my childhood idol," said the younger Miller, who played for his father on a four-year college baseball scholarship. "My room back in Detroit is covered with pictures and newspaper clippings of my father." Bob Miller started the fourth game of the 1950 World Series against the New York Yankees.

He played 10 years with the Philadelphia organization and rubbed shoulders with Hall of Famers like Robin Roberts, Joe Dimaggio, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays. AP Photo Helena pitcher Pat Miller is trying to adjust to life away from Detroit. Collegiate athletes follow vl I the promise of the pros EDITOR'S NOTE Besides big NFL draft last April, 204 did not graduate and 106 did. Of the 54 Carter aims for State Am championship By GEORGE GEISE Tribune Sports Editor HELENA Last summer, if Lisette Carter broke 80 during a golf tournament, that was news. This summer, is she doesn't break 80 during a golf tournament, it's news.

The drastic improvement is one reason the 22-year-old Great Falls player is no longer considered a longs-hot to win the women's State Amateur tournament, which opens Tuesday at Green Meadow Country Club. She's one of four or five players with an excellent chance of winning the tournament, now that defending champion Judi Schneider of Helena has turned professional. Carter is the only contender who doesn't play in a year-round collegiate program. A May graduate of the University of Montana, she played infrequently until the first of June, and admits she's as surprised as anybody that she is playing this well. She shot 74-77-73 to win the Whitefish Lake Fourth of July tournament, then played 36 holes even-par to win her Meadow Lark Country Club championship two weeks ago.

She broke the Meadow Lark course record with a 3-under-par 73 earlier this summer, and has consistently been in the mid-70s. "I am kind of surprised that I'm shooting such good scores," Carter said. "Before, I was hoping just to shoot under 80. This summer, I'm hitting solid shots and I am putting better. It's just kind of come together for me." Still, Carter thinks that players like Jill Johnson of Butte, Leslie Spalding of Billings and Joanne Roberts of Helena are the players to beat this week.

Johnson plays collegiately for Washington State, Spalding plays at Alabama and Roberts plays at Jacksonville University in Florida. Tina Jovanovich of Fort Benton and Vanderbilt, and Missoula's Heidi Burns, who plays for Washington, also should be in the title chase. player drafted. He didn't graduate, either. Although there are many close calls with one or two courses separating an athlete from his degree, there are many more wide misses.

Among them: All-American basketball star Gary Payton, more than a year short at Oregon State, and nose tackle Tory Epps, 50 credits away at Memphis State. The No. 1 picks in both drafts are non-graduates. The NBA's Derrick Coleman, picked first by the New Jersey Nets, played four years at Syracuse and left a semester short of a degree in sociology. The NFL's Jeff George, selected by the Indianapolis Colts, came out of Illinois as a redshirt junior one semester short of a degree in speech communications.

Some football players were as close as one course to graduating. In almost all of those cases, the players withdrew to attend pre-draft scouting combines and rookie mini-camps. That tendency is a constant irritant for academic administrators and has prompted NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue to promise new guidelines next month. Typical is the case of Ohio State guard Tim Moxley, a ninth round pick by the Washington Redskins. He left school one quarter short of his degree in natural resources and See COLLEGE, 3B money, sports can mean big problems for colleges and universities when athletics and academics clash.

Most football and basketball players who leave college for professional sports do so without a degree. In a three-part series, AP sports writer Hat Bock examines the situation. By HAL BOCK AP Sports Writer Schools and sports get a failing grade when it comes to graduating athletes headed for pro football and basketball. An Associated Press survey shows that almost two-thirds of the players drafted by the NFL and the NBA this year did not finish college, and many of them dropped out just shy of graduation to pursue the promise of the pros. Of the 385 players selected in the two drafts, 64.1 percent did not graduate 130 received degrees, 232 did not.

The status of 21 football players could not be determined because their schools would not release graduation data for privacy reasons. Two European basketball players did not attend American schools. Football players were less likely to graduate than their basketball colleagues. Of the 331 players selected in the players selected in the NBA draft last month, 28 did not complete their degree work and 24 did. Six schools Albany State, Pitt, St.

Cloud State, Southern Mississippi, Stephen F. Austin and Texas refused to divulge information on which of its draft choices had graduated, citing issues of privacy. The AP survey also found that: At least 82 NFL draft choices left school one semester or less away from a degree to attend workouts run by scouting combines for the teams and the league. Some athletes had more than enough credits for graduation but not enough required courses. Instead, they took easier courses to maintain their athletic eligibility.

There is, for example, the case of Miami of Ohio basketball coach Jerry Peirson, under NCAA investigation after giving an to one of his players in a course titled "Theory of Basketball," despite the fact that the student never attended the class. There are dramatic contrasts between schools. At Notre Dame all nine drafted football players got diplomas. Houston and Florida State were a combined 0-14 in degrees for drafted football players. Houston also had a basketball Photo for the Tribune by Brian Goeti Lisette F.

Carter, winner of two recent Montana tournaments, could challenge for State Am honors in Helena. Billings players Cheryl Wilson and Michelle Carstens also are playing well enough to win. Wilson worked in the Green Meadow pro shop in 1989 and, along with Roberts, has the home-course advantage. "Players like Jill, Leslie and Joanne have a big advantage because they play all year long. But I feel I have a good chance (to win).

It will probably take about even-par to win it. I think somebody will break 70 See STATE AM, 2B.