Alonso ace sees flaws in 17th straight victory

Alex Panteliodis is frustrated by his first inning but settles down.

By Keith Niebuhr, Times Staff Writer
Published March 13, 2008

TAMPA - He had just allowed one earned run and been touched for all of five hits on the way to winning his 17th straight decision, yet Alonso ace Alex Panteliodis wasn't satisfied after the Ravens' 8-2 victory Wednesday at Sickles.

"Today's performance," Panteliodis said, "wasn't too good."

The problem?

A rocky first inning, during which Panteliodis (5-0) gave up two hits and his first earned run of the season.

After that, the left-handed ace was back to his old self as Florida Gators coach Kevin O'Sullivan - whom Panteliodis will play for next year if he doesn't turn pro - watched from the stands.

"If you take that one inning out, it was just like the rest (of this season's appearances)," Panteliodis said.

At the plate, Alonso (7-1) got things started with Nathan Hardin's first-inning homer, and later made several clutch swings when the game was still up for grabs.

Locked in a one-run battle in the sixth, the Ravens scored twice via wild pitches. They scored three more in the seventh thanks largely to RBI singles from Ray Delphey and Tyler Ding, who finished with three hits and two RBIs.

"My teammates did a great job," Panteliodis said. "When we needed a hit, they came through."

And when Alonso needed a pitch, Panteliodis delivered, particularly during the latter stages of the game. After getting RBI hits from Blake Turner and Josh Dunn in the first and third innings, Sickles (4-3) was blanked by Panteliodis, who left the mound after six innings as his pitch count neared 100 for the first time this spring.

It wasn't his best effort.

But by no means was it a bad one.

"They had scoring opportunities, but we (minimized) the amount of runs (Sickles scored)," Alonso coach Landy Faedo said. "He did what he had to do."

Alonso, Sickles

[Last modified March 13, 2008, 01:59:04]