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South's Conklin hurls rare perfect game during sweep By FRANK SILOW South Medford baseball coach Pete Whisler was simply looking for a way to end his team's five-game losing streak when it took the field Saturday in a Southern Oregon Conference doubleheader against Ashland. Instead, much more occurred. South Medford junior pitcher Tony Conklin fashioned a perfect game, defeating the Grizzlies 2-0 in the opener at Miles Field. The Panthers completed the sweep, 7-2, in the nightcap. "In close to 28 years of organized baseball, dating back to Little League, this is the first perfect game I've ever been involved with, either for me or against me," Whisler said. "I've never witnessed one personally." Conklin struck out four to improve his record to 2-1. "He was ahead of the hitters every inning," said Whisler. "He kept the ball where he wanted to. They hit just a couple of balls hard in the infield. Otherwise, nothing else was close to a hit." The junior right-hander was sharp in his previous outing also. He allowed just three hits in a 3-1 loss to Roseburg on Tuesday. "Nothing flusters him," said Whisler. "He's not an overpowering pitcher, but he has enough juice to get it by you if you're not ready." Conklin was hooked up in a scoreless pitching duel against Ashland senior Taylor Cook through four innings. Then the Panthers pushed across two runs in a decisive fifth-inning outburst. Jimmie Maddox got things going for South with a leadoff single and moved to second on a steal. Josh Tompkins followed with an RBI double. After moving to third on a wild pitch, the junior infielder scored on Ryan Heil's squeeze bunt single. South Medford continued its errorless play behind senior lefthander Graham Foster in the second game. Foster allowed three hits and three walks and struck out seven to register his first victory in four decisions this season. Foster gave up the three hits after getting ahead in the count 0-2. "He got ahead with his fastball and his breaking ball was in the zone the whole day," said Whisler. "He wasn't timid and kept his composure." South erased a 2-1 deficit with three runs in the third inning. Conklin opened with a triple and scored on Ryan Bock's single. Chuck Shine walked and the runners advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. Tompkins and Maddox provided successive sacrifice flies to account for the next two runs. Besides Conklin's pitching gem, Whisler was most pleased with the Panthers' defense in the twin bill. "We've worked hard on our defense all year," said Whisler. "After only three errors in our first six games, we made 13 in our last two doubleheaders against Mountain View and Roseburg. If you play defense and throw the ball over the plate you'll be successful." Whisler was impressed with the defensive play by shortstop Haag and catcher Shine: "Haag made every play to him and Shine worked hard behind the plate blocking balls. "We just played baseball today," Whisler added. "We did the things we had to to win." And the Panthers did them in a perfect way. FIRST GAME Ashland ................000 000 0 -- 0 0 0 South Medford .....000 020 x -- 2 6 0 Cook, Ehlers (5) and McGuure; Conklin and Shine. W -- Conklin (2-1). L -- Cook. 2B -- SM: Tompkins. SECOND GAME Ashland ...............000 020 0 -- 2 3 2 South Medford ....103 003 x -- 7 7 0 Allen, Ehlers (4), Turner (6) and Cook; Foster and Shine. W -- Foster (1-3). L -- Allen. 2B -- A: Walsh. 3B -- SM: Conklin. Today's Sports Index Mail Tribune Copyright� The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, OR U.S.A.