Hogs roll to shutout victory

John Ely broke out of a July funk by pitching five scoreless innings, and the Warthogs bullpen did the rest in a crisp 3-0 win over the Salem Avalanche last night at Ernie Shore Field.

Ely (4-11) had endured a murderous stretch in which he was 0-4 with a 16.78 earned-run average in four July starts. Last night, he scattered eight hits and struck out five and was pulled after the fifth inning when he had thrown only 61 pitches.

"He was five positive," said Brian Drahman, the Warthogs' pitching coach. "Theoretically he could have gone a couple of more innings, but for a positive outing and where he was right there, it was good enough for us. It was for him. It was a positive start for the five or six outings he has left."

Michael Dubee, Wander Perez, Matt Zaleski, and Henry Mabee cleaned up behind Ely with four scoreless innings in relief as the Warthogs won the four-game series 3-1 and posted their first shutout since June 12.

Douglas Arguello, the Avalanche starter who entered the game with a 7-3 record and a 2.94 earned-run average, made the Warthogs work for their runs while pitching seven strong innings. But he couldn't match Ely and the Warthogs' relievers.

And while the Avalanche got nine hits, it scored only one run over the final two games of the series.

Paulo Orlando was 1 for 2 with a walk and two runs and C.J. Retherford was 2 for 3 with a run and an RBI to lead the Warthogs, who are scheduled to open a weekend series tonight at Myrtle Beach.

Drahman said that he has been working with Ely, a third-round selection by the Chicago White Sox last summer, to get him back on track.

"We don't want to look at the record anymore, don't want to look at the ERA," Drahman said. "It's a thing of starting over right now. I told him the other day, ‘We probably have six outings to go, let's make it 6-0.' So putting that positive attitude into it, making a couple of adjustments on the mound, and everything came out alright.

"I think he got a little more confidence after things started off better for him, and a little change in his delivery, getting quicker, not slowing down through it. He was slowing down a little too much and tonight speeding up made him a little more deceptive. His change-up looked better, it had a little sharper downward plane on it, and he had his curveball tonight, and he hasn't had that in a while.

"He worked in a lot and got a broken bat tonight, and he just did a great job."

Ely got some help from his defense in the second inning. After giving up a single to Tim Torres, Ely's offering to Cesar Quintero was ripped off the wall in left, and Torres raced around trying to score from first. But John Shelby III fielded the ball and hit his cutoff man, Retherford, with the throw in. Retherford fired a laser to Francisco Hernandez at the plate in plenty of time to get Torres.

Ely, in trouble in the third inning after allowing a double and single and having runners at first and third with no outs, retired Collin DeLome on a pop foul, then got a double play to kill the threat when he struck out Mark Ori and Hernandez threw out Jordan Parraz on a steal attempt to end the inning.

Orlando patiently drew a walk from Arguello to lead off the first inning and scored when Shelby grounded into one of the game's seven double plays.

Orlando reached on a swinging bunt single down the third-base line to lead off the third and several pitches later, he stole second base. After moving to third on Dale Mollenhauer's groundout to the right side of the infield, Orlando scored on Retherford's solid single to center to make the score 2-0.

The Warthogs increased their lead to 3-0 in the sixth when Retherford led off with a single, moved to third on Shelby's double and scored on Brett Bonvecchio's sacrifice fly.

Mabee pitched a perfect ninth for his second save.

■ Mason Linker can be reached at 727-7324 or at mlinker@wsjournal.com.

SALEM ab r h bi W-S ab r h bi

Parraz rf 4 0 1 0 Orlando cf 2 2 1 0

DeLome lf 3 0 1 0 Mllnhr 2b 4 0 0 0

Mrsi ph/cf 1 0 0 0 Rthrfrd 3b 3 1 2 1

Ori dh 4 0 0 0 Shelby lf 4 0 1 0

Vn Ostrnd 1b 4 0 1 0 Bnvcho 1b 2 0 1 1

Clemens c 3 0 0 0 Sanchez rf 3 0 0 0

Torres ss 1 0 1 0 Thon dh 3 0 1 0

Flrntno 3b 3 0 2 0 Paiml ss 3 0 1 0

Qntro cf/lf 4 0 1 0 Hrndz c 2 0 0 0

Bchn 2b 3 0 0 0

Mena 3b/ss 4 0 2 0

Totals 34 0 9 0 Totals 26 3 7 2

Salem 000 000 000 -- 0


Win.-Salem 101 001 00x -- 3

E--Mena, Mollenhauer. DP--Salem 5, Winston-Salem 2. LOB--Salem 11, Winston-Salem 4. 2B--Quintero, Mena, Paiml, Shelby. SB--Hernandez, Orlando. CS--Parraz.

Salem IP H R ER BB SO

Arguello, L (7-4) 7 7 3 2 3 2

Appell 1 0 0 0 0 1

Winston-Salem IP H R ER BB SO

Ely, W (4-11) 5 8 0 0 0 6

Dubee 12/3 0 0 0 3 1

Perez 1/3 0 0 0 1 0

Zaleski 1 1 0 0 0 2

Mabee, S, 2 1 0 0 0 0 1

WP--Arguello. HBP--by Arguello (Orlando). T--2:39. A--2,118.