Dash wins 4th in a row

Lost in the talk about the delayed construction of a new ballpark is the actual baseball being played by the Winston-Salem Dash. And lately it's been very good baseball.

Last night the first-place Dash won its fourth straight by routing the Myrtle Beach Pelicans 15-3 in front of 1,432 at Wake Forest Baseball Park.

Up and down the lineup, the Dash hit the ball often and with authority. By the time the third inning was over, eight of the nine players had gotten at least one hit. All nine Dash players had at least one hit; it had 17 hits with the 15 runs being a season high.

"Right now we are going on all cylinders," said Manager Joe McEwing. "We have to continue to bust our butt and go about our business that way."

Center fielder Salvador Sanchez did most of the damage, going 4 for 5 with two homers, four RBIs, a stolen base and four runs scored.

Backing Sanchez were Kyle Shelton and Jimmy Gallagher, who each had four RBIs. Gallagher hit his sixth homer of the season in the third inning, when the Dash scored five runs to take a 10-2 lead.

How good of a night was it for the Dash? When Shelton, who batted ninth, entered the game he had eight RBIs all season, but got half of that by the third inning.

"It was amazing," Gallagher said. "When you get guys at the bottom of the order hitting like that and driving in runs early, you are tough to beat."

Watching one of the best hitting displays of the season were Buddy Bell, the Chicago White Sox's director of player development, and Jeff Manto, the hitting coordinator for all of the White Sox's minor-league teams. Both would have a hard time finding much wrong.

"Any time the coordinators are in town you want to play your best," Gallagher said. "We get enough from Joe because he pushes us pretty hard, but it looks good when they are here and we hit like that."

The Dash trailed 2-0 after the first half inning, when starter Johnnie Lowe gave up two runs. But after that, Lowe settled down and didn't allow another hit for four innings; he finished with eight strong innings.

The victory by the Dash gave it a 26-25 record with the first half of the Carolina League season ending on June 21.

Setting the tone was Sanchez who had his best game of the season. In his fifth season of pro baseball and his second with the Dash, he has had trouble being consistent.

"I've been making some good adjustments trying to see the ball better," said Sanchez, who has dropped in McEwing's. "I'm trying to hit to all fields."

Despite the great night, his average rose to .227.

As for his teammates banging out hit after hit, Sanchez said it was a fun night.

"It's great to see all the hitting like that," Sanchez said. "And we all seem to have that same attitude."

Note: Andy Dudones, the home-plate umpire, was struck in the right hand with a pitch from Eric Barrett of the Pelicans in the seventh inning and had to leave the game with a broken hand. Base umpire Will Little moved behind the plate to finish the game while Robert Marcial, a reserve infielder for the Pelicans, covered the bases as an umpire. When the Dash was in the field, outfielder Christian Marrero, who was out of the lineup last night, served as the base umpire.

■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.

M.B. ab r h bi W-S ab r h bi

Miles cf 4 1 1 0 Mllher 2b 3 2 2 1

Lee cf 4 2 2 0 Paiml ss 4 1 1 0

Freeman 1b 4 0 1 2 Galghr 1b 5 1 2 4

Linares 3b 4 0 1 1 Cruz lf 4 1 2 1

CJhnsn dh 4 0 0 0 Morel 3b 5 0 1 1

Owings rf 4 0 1 0 LJhnsn c 4 2 1 0

BJhnsn c 4 0 0 0 Sanchz cf 5 4 4 4

Gress ss 2 0 0 0 Prschna rf 5 2 2 0

Fisher 2b 3 0 1 0 Shlton dh 5 2 2 4

Totals 33 3 7 3 Totals 40 15 17 15

Myrtle Beach 200 001 000 -- 3


Winston-Salem 145 003 02x -- 15

DP--Winston-Salem 1. LOB--Myrtle Beach 4, Winston-Salem 6. 2B--Lee, Paiml, Persichina 2, Gallagher, Shelton, Mollenhauer, Cruz. HR--Gallagher, Cruz, Sanchez 2. SB--Sanchez

Myrtle Beach IP H R ER BB SO

Rohrbough, L (2-3) 22/3 11 10 10 2 2

Gustafson 22/3 3 1 1 0 2

Barrett 12/3 2 2 2 1 2

Palica 1 1 2 2 1 0

Winston-Salem IP H R ER BB SO

Lowe, W (4-1) 8 5 3 3 1 5

Socolovich 1 2 0 0 0 1

WP--Lowe. T--2:49. A--1,432