Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Stars starting to turn that bad start around

The way Doug Dascenzo sees it, he was owed this one.

After starting the season hitting .178 in his first 12 games, the Las Vegas Stars center fielder went 3-for-4 Sunday with an RBI double that lifted the Stars to a 3-2 victory over the Phoenix Firebirds at Cashman Field.

"I had a couple pretty good games in a row where I lined out a couple times, then today I get a bloop single and an infield hit -- it all evens out," said the former major-league outfielder. "One game like this can turn it around."

The Stars apparently have turned it around after a horrid start that saw them win only four of their first 16 games. Sunday's win was Las Vegas' fourth straight and raised its record to 8-12.

Despite the team's slow start, Dascenzo said nobody in the Stars locker room was reaching for the panic button.

"We all worry about it, but I don't think anyone was panicking," he said.

"Obviously there is some concern when you're not doing things the way you like to do them (because) we want to do well. We want to win here and play well in case our major-league club needs us one day. If you're not playing well, you're not going to get back to the big leagues."

As for his own slow start, Dascenzo said he has come to expect that throughout his 12-year professional career.

"Traditionally, I've been (a slow starter)," he said. "But that's why we play 140 games. I'm just glad that we're winning again and things are back on track. It's a little more fun when you're winning games."

Dascenzo helped the Stars erase a 1-0 deficit in the first inning. After Homer Bush walked to lead off the inning, Dascenzo dropped a bloop single into left-center that allowed Bush to move to third. Mike Sharperson drove in Bush with a grounder to third and Jason Thompson gave the Stars a 2-1 lead with a double to left.

After Phoenix had tied the score at 2-2 in the fourth, Dascenzo gave the Stars a 3-2 lead in the fifth with a one-out double to right that scored Bush from first base.

Meanwhile, Stars left-hander Russ Swan (1-1) limited the Firebirds to two runs (one earned) on eight hits, walked two and struck out seven in 7 2/3 innings to earn his first victory of the season.

Andres Berumen pitched the final 1 1/3 innings in relief of Swan and picked up his first save.

"A lot of good things are happening," Stars manager Jerry Royster said. "The pitching is just incredible. I'm asking Andres Berumen to close and I haven't even let him pitch for three or four days. All of a sudden he has got to get four outs to save a 3-2 game and he just goes out and does it.

"And Swan, he was masterful -- but what's new? It's the same thing he has done every other time out."

Now that the Stars have been together for a month, Dascenzo said it is not unreasonable to think the team can continue to play the way it has the past four games.

"We think we should be able to play better than what we have been playing," Dascenzo said. "The way the game is now, you've got guys bouncing around left and right, with a different team from one year to the next.

"It takes a little bit of time to get to know everybody and develop a routine. We need to get into that routine and once everybody gets to know each other, we'll really start to come together."

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