Buford Goes Deep to Beat San Fernando

Damon Buford felt a little antsy when Birmingham Coach Wayne Sink flashed a bunt sign in the fourth inning Thursday against San Fernando.

Birmingham trailed, 2-0, and the Braves were having little luck solving left-hander Bobby Aparicio. Sink called for the bunt with one out, two strikes on Buford and a runner at first base.

Buford fouled off the bunt attempt and was out. “I was kind of upset when I got the sign,” said the second baseman, who just a day earlier had hit three home runs in practice.

Buford came up again in the seventh inning with score 5-5, none out and a runner on.

But this time Sink let the senior swing away. Buford took reliever Rudy Vargas deep to left-center field for a home run that gave Birmingham a 7-5 Mid-Valley League victory at San Fernando.

“I gave Damon the bunt sign in the fourth because we needed to get something going,” Sink said. “But I’m never in fear that we’re not going to get enough runs. We have guys all through the lineup who can hit the ball.”

Birmingham (9-5, 7-3 in league) finished the second round of league undefeated and moved into a first-place tie with Kennedy (7-3). Birmingham and Kennedy open the final round against each other Tuesday at Kennedy.

San Fernando (7-6, 6-4)--which has lost six straight, including three league games since the spring break--dropped into second place.

“A couple of losses are nothing to get overly concerned about, but I said that two or three games ago,” San Fernando Coach Steve Marden said. “The kids are pressing. They’re not coming through in the crucial situations.”

San Fernando took a 2-0 lead in the second inning with the help of Birmingham pitcher Mike Sulprizio and Buford.

Sulprizio contributed by issuing consecutive walks to Manuel Orozco, Albert Torres and Rudy Sanchez. Robert Chavez followed with a ground ball to short that drove in Orozco and Buford gave San Fernando another run when his throw to complete the double play went wide of first base. When Sulprizio walked Richard Ortiz to load the bases again, he was replaced by winning pitcher Dan Meehan (3-1), who retired the next two batters.

Birmingham got a run back in the fourth on a run-scoring single by Tim Beagle that drove in Ernie Perez. But the Braves, with a batting average hovering above .350, didn’t really get untracked--or get to Aparicio--until the fifth inning.

Toby Lopez led off with a double and two outs later Craig Stevens hit a home run to left, his third, to put Birmingham on top, 3-2. Dean Kline singled to keep the rally alive and Buford drove him in with a triple to left. Aparicio was replaced by Vargas, who promptly balked home Buford to give the Braves a 5-2 lead.

San Fernando came back with three in the fifth to tie it. Richard Ortiz tripled to right and Josh Bergara drove him in with a ground out. Randy Guerrero made it 5-4 with his first home run, a blast to left. The Tigers tied the game after Alfred Navarez walked, was balked to second by Meehan and scored on a throwing error by Perez.