July 9, 2008

story courtesy of Chad Dare/Commercial-News
DANVILLE, Ill. - Numbers are not always the best way to judge how a baseball player is doing in a season.

Danville Dans relief pitcher Worth Tate is 0-1 with a 7.94 ERA in his first five appearances.

Not exactly the kind of statistics that he or Danville manager Pete Paciorek want to see, but considering where he was in late January -- those numbers are quite remarkable.

Tate of Collierville, Tenn., missed all of his spring season at the University of Memphis after his spleen ruptured and was removed.

"It really wasn't that scary. I went to the hospital and they took it out,'' he said, downplaying a major surgery. "I had been feeling under the weather a little bit and all of the sudden -- it ruptured.

"I started passing out and our trainer made me go to the hospital.''

When he got there, Tate found out that he had lost a great deal of blood and that surgery was his only option.

"That wasn't a lot of fun, but the really not so fun part came after the surgery,'' he said. "For the next three months, you are so weak. You can't really do anything. I lost something like 15-20 pounds at that time.''

He had hoped to make it back for the end of his freshman season, but the Tigers' coaching staff felt it was best for him to red-shirt.

"After the fall season, I felt like I was going to be one of our relief pitchers,'' Tate said. "It was really frustrating to just sit and watch those games.

"I learned that is can be a long season because we didn't have a great year at Memphis.''

His first performance in a game situation came in the Danville Dans season opener in Huntingburg, Ind., against the Dubois Bombers.

Tate pitched one inning, allowing three hits, two runs -- only one earned -- while walking one and striking out one.

"We have to build him back up gradually,'' Danville manager Pete Paciorek said.

In his next three outings, Tate gave up six runs -- four earned -- along with 10 hits in three innings, while walking three.

"I didn't like my performance in my first four appearances,'' Tate said. "I've been wild.''

But in Tuesday's 3-1 loss to the Bombers at Danville Stadium, Tate had his longest outing, going 1- innings. For the first time this season, he didn't allow a run.

"His first couple outings were a little rough, but this last outing he made some positive strides,'' Paciorek said. "He wants to get better and he is working hard on a daily basis. We have a good pitching coach here in Joe Verplancke and I know Worth is going to pick his brain and continue to get better.

"He's been through a lot this year and to see him have success was great.''

Tate retired the first four batters he faced on Tuesday night, before giving up two walks and a hit.

"It might have been a little fatigue or it might have been a mental thing,'' Tate said. "I just need to keep working at it and keeping getting better.''