Pitch Count

He started his career as a closer and is ending it as a starter. In between, West Deptford senior Scott Rollins had to endure some down time for tendinitis in his elbow, but he's now pitching at 100 percent. That was clearly evident yesterday during an 8-2 victory over visiting Haddonfield in a key Colonial Conference baseball game. Rollins, a sidewinding righthander, pitched his first complete game of the season, striking out nine, walking two and allowing just six singles to an explosive Haddonfield club.

A no-hitter and an improbable come-from-behind victory. That's how it played out yesterday in the Catholic League baseball semifinals at La Salle University's Hank DeVincent Field. In the second game, La Salle's Dan Waters pitched the first complete-game no-hitter of his high school career as the Explorers rolled past two-time defending league champion Archbishop Carroll, 9-1. In the opener, Cardinal O'Hara scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to stun Conwell-Egan, 10-9, and advance to the final for the first time since 1983.

Expos righthander Pedro Martinez has to be considered the favorite to win the National League Cy Young Award. He is 16-6 with a 1.63 earned run average. One of his wins came last Saturday in Yankee Stadium, a complete-game five-hitter against the defending world champions during which he struck out 10. Phillies righthander Curt Schilling might not finish in the top three of NL Cy Young balloting this season, despite leading the league in strikeouts. Yankees manager Joe Torre, who watched Schilling whiff 16 hitters in a dominant eight innings against New York Monday at Veterans Stadium, doesn't see much difference between the two. "We talk about Martinez and you could just play it back with Schilling," Torre said before last night's 5-0 loss to the Phillies.

It was easy for Chris Donlen to decide which he was more satisfied with - his pitching or game-winning home run - in Neshaminy's 3-1 win at Conwell- Egan on Tuesday. "The pitching," he said. "I haven't thrown in a while. " The while had lasted two weeks, while Donlen nursed a strained muscle in his right (pitching) shoulder blade. "I was happy," he said. "I would have liked to have thrown more, but I was on a pitch count. " Donlen lasted four innings, gave up four hits and one run (a steal of home by Tim Monaghan)

Holy Ghost Prep continued its undefeated run through the Bicentennial League with a 17-2 rout of Lower Moreland on Tuesday. And despite the extent of the 4 1/2-inning baseball blowout, Firebirds coach Ted Grabowski used three pitchers in the first inning, four in the game. Grabowski isn't used to making the walk to the mound to lift a pitcher in any game. "We're winning but we had two games where we walked 14 or 15 batters," he explained. "We were walking a lot of guys in the first inning, and I didn't want that to start again.

Last year, Malvern Prep's Rob Welch pitched in the shadow of senior stars Brian McKernan and Sean McKinney, who pitched the Friars to their second straight Inter-Ac title. "He was our third pitcher and threw in some nonleague games," coach Greg Gross said. "I think he had a 1-0 record. " This spring, with McKinney throwing for St. Joseph's University and McKernan playing for Lafayette, Welch has had to step up and take over as the ace of the staff. So far, so good, as the senior has taken up where his older teammates left off last year.

Central Bucks East's two key starting pitchers have little or no varsity experience, a fact that would make many baseball coaches break out the antacid and keep it handy all season. East coach Neil Zanetti knows the importance of pitching. That's why the success of East may depend on juniors Kevin Brown and Justin Quinn. "With no senior pitchers on the team, we'll do as well as they do," said Zanetti. "They have the ability and they're good pitchers. "It will depend on how they make the jump from JV and Connie Mack ball to the varsity," he added.

Like a Little Leaguer tugging on the shirttail of his coach, John Gramlick would keep after John Leary for an opportunity to pitch. The junior Penn Wood pitcher would tell Leary, Penn Wood's coach, "Let me pitch, let me pitch," until, you guessed it, Leary handed Gramlick the ball on Wednesday. Gramlick proceeded to throw a no-hitter against Chichester in the first high school game he ever pitched in. Holy Nolan Ryan! Projected in the beginning of the season to be either the fourth or fifth pitcher for the Pats, Gramlick now figures to pitch more often this season.