Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1945-03-28
Six Good S|abmen All
BIuege Has in Squad;
Braves Cop Again
BY JOHN B. KELLER.

Pitching promises to be Os
Bluege's big problem when the Mats
plunge into the flag fight next
month. Currently he has a staff of
only six apparently qualified to
hurl and six hurlers aren't enough
to get club very far in the Amer
lean League.
The greater part of the burden
will be on the Mats four veterans
the knuckle-balling Dutch Leon
ard, Roger Wolff, John Niggeling
and Mickey Haefner. Backing them
Bluege will have the sturdy Ma
rino, Pieretti, draftee from Port
land, and Santiago Ullrich, much
more polished than when sent to
the Chattanooga farm last spring.
After these six--well, Clark Grit
fifth, big boss of the Mats, had bet
ter start looking around for help.
Ullrich advanced to the Big Six
yesterday in five-inning turn
against Boston's Braves, who lar
rupted the Mats, to 3, in an exhibit
ton at the College Park training
camp. He already had made an
impressive showing in a five-round
hitless performance at Curtis Bay
against a star-packed Coast Guard
team
Ullrich Greatly Improved.
Ullrich looks much stronger ply
sically than he did at last years
training camp and over a year he
has learned great deal about
pitching. His control is much better,
he is faster and shows a superior
curve ball. After all, Ullrich has
been around semipro and pro base
ball for four years and should be
nearing his peak.
He did all right yesterday after
the first of his five innings. In the
opening frame after striking out the
first batter he was reached for two
doubles in a row-the second was
somewhat of color-to give the
Braves run lead. In the next four
innings, but two Braves got on base,
one by single and the other by a
pass.
1t was Luis Aloma who took the
beating. He pitched three rounds,
and while he had plenty on the ball
he didn't have control. The Braves
nicked him for two singles and a
run in his first round and wasted
a hit off him in his second, but
they really plastered him in his
third inning, the eighth of the
game.
Aloma Has Control Trouble.
Then the Cuban, who did right
well in the South last year, simply
couldn't throw his pitches to the
right spots. He went to three-and-
one too often and the Boston batters
waited him out They clustered three
passes with four one-base blows for
six runs and the ball game was gone.
AL Rossi came on to hurl the ninth
and gave up nothing more than a
two-bagger.
The way the Mats didn't hit,
though, superpitching would have
been necessary to put them across.
Five hits were all they could gather
and the first of these didn't come
until the fifth inning. Nate An
drews made the Mats look easy in
the first two sessions, then AL Javery
came on for three. After disposing
of six successive batters he weakened
in the fifth, when Joe Kuhel singled.
an error put Fred Vaughn on and
AL Evans hit one baser to put over
a run.
Lefty Chuck Cozart finished and
In the ninth the Mats got three more
singles for two more runs. Joe Ear
don, Walter Cripple and George
Binks, newcomers to the club, did
this clouting.
Starved Catcher Joins Mats.
Another catcher to take some of
the burden off Evans shoulders
showed up yesterday, but had to be
well fed before he could don a uni
form. Ysaac Soane-it's pronounced
So-ah-nee-an 18-year-old picked
up in Cuba by Joe Cambria, Nat
Latin American specialist, hadn't
eaten or even had drink of water
since landing in Miami two days
before.
ne speaks no English and was too
timid to use any sign language, he
told his English-speaking pal, Pedro
Gomez. Even when the butchers
came through the train selling sand
Wlches, he was afraid to take a
chance. But one good meal put So
ane on his feet again and he looks
strong enough to help around camp
until the time comes to move the
youngsters to Nat farms.
Vaughn managed to stick through
TOUR innings yesterday, although IL
bad foot panied him severely. But
he's going to fight the trouble, he
says, and get into the game or prac-
tlce daily. He believes he may be
able to go the route while the Mats
are playing at the Norfolk naval
training base next week.