By Tim Hayes
Sports Writer / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: June 25, 2009

Some observations from the Bristol White Sox’s 4-3 Appalachian League victory over the Greeneville Astros on Tuesday night at DeVault Stadium:

—- Starting pitcher Steven Upchurch was simply dominant for the BriSox on Tuesday night. Overcoming a rocky first inning, the 19-year-old right-hander got in a groove and overpowered Greeneville’s lineup.

He got in a groove and retired 10 straight batters at one point and had nine groundball outs in the night. Upchurch is in his second season with the Sox and might not be here long judging from Tuesday night’s superb outing.

—- The bullpen was also lights ou as relievers Joseph Serafin, Santos Rodriguez and Brent DeFoor combined for three hitless innings. The side-arming DeFoor closed it out with a dominant 1-2-3 ninth inning.

—- Bristol catcher Miguel Gonzalez went 3-for-4 to lead Bristol at the plate. But behind the plate, it didn’t go quite as well. Gonzalez had a passed ball and made an errant throw on a pickoff attempt in the sixth inning.

—- Bristol shortstop Kyle Davis had a nice professional debut. Along with several nice plays at short, he also went 1-for-3, scored a run and walked.

—- Bristol outfielder Brady Shoemaker has impressed thus far in the first two games of the season.

The former Indiana State Sycamore went 1-for-4 on Tuesday, but had several hard hits that went for outs. He hit a line drive to center field in the fourth inning and lined out hard to Greeneville third baseman Jonathan Meyer in the seventh inning.

—- The game took just 2 hours, 13 minutes to complete. That’s a rarity in the Appalachian League.

—- Chicago White Sox director of player development and former big league player and manager Buddy Bell was in the house to watch the game.