By Tim Hayes
Sports Writer / Bristol Herald Courier
Published: June 28, 2009

Some observations from the Bristol White Sox’s 9-0 beatdown of the Princeton Rays on Saturday night at DeVault Stadium:

—- For the first time all season, Bristol’s hitters, well, hit. The BriSox pounded out 12 hits and pushed across nine runs. That’s impressive considering, Bristol had scored just nine combined runs and compiled a .231 team batting average through the season’s first four games.

Kyle Davis, Miguel Gonzalez and Ryan Lee each had two hits to key the offensive explosion.

Davis has been impressive thus far. The New Jersey native is a smooth fielder and has also shown the ability to swing the stick with a .333 batting average (4-for-12) in four games.

“He’s been solid for us this year,” Bristol manager Ryan Newman said. “That’s the kind of thing you like in the field. A guy you don’t have to worry about it; you know if the ball is hit there, he’s going to make a majority of the plays. It makes me comfortable in the dugout.”

Newman knows of what he speaks. He was a slick-fielding middle infielder for three years in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ farm system.

——The BriSox pitching staff continues to impressive. Philip Negus, David Holmberg and Joseph Serafin combined on a three-hit shutout Saturday night.

Negus allowed just two hits in four innings in his first start of the season.

Holmberg made his much-anticipated professional debut in the fifth inning. The second-round draft pick from Port Charlotte (Fla.) High School worked a scoreless inning in his pro debut, but it wasn’t easy.

There was a double by Julio Cedeno to start the inning, followed by Jason Patton’s groundout, a walk to Ramon Novas, a flyout in foul territory by Tomas Francisco and a walk to Daniel Rhault.

The walk to Rhault loaded the bases, but Holmberg buckled down and got Princeton leadoff hitter Brian Bryles to swing at a 2-2 pitch for the third out.

“For a high school kid coming out in his first outing in professional ball, he battled,” Newman said. “He’s going to be exciting to watch this season.”

It was a learning experience for the 17-year-old Holmberg.

“It was interesting,” Holmberg said. “I found out that the strike zone is a little smaller than what I’m used too. But it doesn’t matter you have to throw strikes.”

—- Joseph Serafin worked the final four innings for the victory. Serafin struck out five and a walk to Julio Cedeno to open the seventh inning was his only blemish.

“Joe came in and we love his tempo,” Newman said. “He works fast, keeps the game going and throws strikes. He’s a strike machine.”

Serafin is among several BriSox pitchers with prospect potential.

“We have tons of good arms,” Serafin said. “We are all throwing strikes and getting groundball outs and getting outs when we need to. Hopefully, that will carry it for the rest of the year.”

—- A season high 1,012 fans were in attendance for Saturday’s game. More performances like Saturday’s from the home team and the fans might start turning out more often.

—- It appears as if Brandon Allen will be the next former BriSox standout to reach the major leagues.

Allen was recently promoted to Class AAA Charlotte in Chicago’s chain and has hit .257 with one home run and six RBIs in nine games for the Knights.

The powerful Allen played in 58 games in Bristol during the summer of 2004 and hit .205 with three homers and 23 RBIs.