Marek, Owlz shut out White Sox

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Aug 12, 2005 by Jeff Call Deseret Morning News

OREM -- There was a message on the whiteboard just outside the Orem Owlz locker room Thursday night. It read, "Shut up and play!"

The Owlz apparently took that to heart against Great Falls. They not only shut up and played, they recorded a resounding 11-0 shutout of the White Sox.

Orem starter Stephen Marek struck out the first four batters he faced and went on to fan 12 in six innings. He allowed one hit and no walks en route to his first victory of the season.

"That was our best performance by a pitcher all year," said Owlz manager Tom Kotchman. "(Marek) had his stuff tonight."

In all, Great Falls mustered four hits against Orem's dominating pitching. The Owlz finished with 16 total strikeouts. Andrew Hill pitched two scoreless innings in relief of Marek. Then, in the ninth, closer Kevin Lynch set down the White Sox in order. Lynch arrived at the ballpark about 30 minutes before game time after leaving Double-A Arkansas earlier in the day. "He hadn't pitched in four or five games," Kotchman said, "so I wanted to give him an inning."

As well as the Owlz pitched, Kotchman may have been happiest about the effort of outfielder Stantrel Smith, who went 3-for-4, scoring three runs and driving in a pair. Smith's mother, who had never seen him play professionally, traveled all the way from Georgia to watch her son.

"It was emotional for me," Kotchman said. "You won't find a better kid -- polite and soft-spoken -- as Stantrel. It was pretty cool for his mom to see him play for the first time and play that well."

"It felt great to have her here -- and I did pretty good," Smith said.

Kotchman will leave the team tomorrow for a few days as he returns to his home state of Florida. He and his wife are accompanying their daughter to Chipola Junior College, where she will play softball this season. Hitting coach Keith Johnson will manage the club in Kotchman's absence.

Though the final score was lopsided, it was a 2-0 game going into the sixth inning. In the third frame, Josh Cowles doubled and scored on a Smith single to record Orem's first run. One batter later, Hainley Statia grounded to Great Falls third baseman Javier Castillo, whose wild throw forced first baseman Brandon Allen off the bag and caused a collision between Allen and Statia. The errant throw allowed Smith to score while Statia lay on the field for a few minutes. Statia wasn't seriously hurt and stayed in the game.

Smith scored again in the sixth on a single by Marco Albano to give the Owlz a 3-0 advantage. Orem added a couple of more runs on back-to-back RBI singles by Mark Trumbo and Greg Dini.

Dallas Morris jumpstarted a six-run eighth inning with a solo home run over the right field wall. The Owlz pushed another run across the plate on Billy Boyer's sacrifice fly, then continued pouring it on the White Sox as Smith belted an RBI double and Statia smacked a two-run double to make it 10-0. Not long after that, Statia scored on a throwing error. Lynch closed out the victory with a perfect ninth.

The Owlz and White Sox continue their series tonight at 7.

E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com