Las Vegas Stars scorecard -- July 17, 1998

By Steve Guiremand

Thursday began as a day to remember for Stars manager/golf junkie Jerry Royster. He played the exclusive ($1,000 per round) Shadow Creek golf course in north Las Vegas for the first time and shot a 78. "It was a great day," Royster, who dressed at President Bush's locker, said. But things changed dramatically at night as the Stars got thumped by the first place Fresno Grizzlies, 11-2, at Cashman Field in their series finale. Still, Las Vegas managed top take three out of four games against Fresno and cut the Grizzlies' PCL South Division lead to 12 games. That's four games better than 10 days ago. "I thought we played great for the most part," Royster said. "It's too bad it ended on such a down note." ... The Stars fly this morning to Salt Lake City where they begin a key four-game series with the Salt Lake Buzz tonight. The Buzz are a 1/2-game ahead of Las Vegas in second place in the PCL South. "We need to regroup," Royster said. "We're playing the team that's right with us." ... Temperature at game-time was 112-degrees. Longtime Stars observers believed that was a record. ... Third baseman George Arias, who sat out Wednesday's game with the flu, returned Thursday and hit his 25th home run of the season. That ties him with Melvin Nieves (1994) for fourth place on the Stars' single-season home run chart. Barring a trade, an injury or a callup to the big leagues --- he certainly wouldn't mind that --- Arias would appear to be a cinch to break the team's single-season home run record of 32 set by Kevin McReynolds in 1983.

Upcoming games

The Stars open a short four-game road trip at Salt Lake tonight with right-hander Brian Tollberg (3-3, 5.98) set to pitch against Buzz right-hander Frank Rodriguez (5-7, 4.84). Las Vegas returns to Cashman on Tuesday night for an eight-game homestand against Iowa (July 21-25) and Albuquerque (July 25-28).

Attendance

Thursday's crowd: 3,298.

Season total: 218,124 (47 dates).

Average per date: 4,641.

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