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Clontz played his collegiate baseball at Virginia Tech after graduating from Patrick County High School. He played three seasons from 1990 to 1992. Clontz compiled a stellar resume, replete with two record-setting accomplishments earned in his final season: Innings pitched (130) and single-season wins (12). He ranks second all-time in strikeouts at Virginia Tech with 115, according to the Virginia Tech Baseball Record Book. Clontz was inducted into the Virginia Tech Hall of Fame in 2011. Clontz was drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 10th round of the 1992 amateur draft. He was sent to the friendly confines of Calfee Park to begin his professional career, but the homecoming was short-lived. Clontz pitched in just four games before moving up to Class-A with the Macon Braves. He tallied a 1.59 ERA with seven strikeouts in his short stint in Pulaski. Clontz made his major-league debut for the Atlanta Braves on Opening Day in 1995. He pitched a perfect ninth inning to secure the victory. Clontz went 8-1 with a 3.65 ERA in his rookie season for the Braves, notching 55 strikeouts in 69 innings pitched. Appearing in Games Three and Five of the World Series, Clontz posted a 2.70 ERA in 3.1 innings pitched, striking out two and surrendering a home run to Jim Thome. When the Braves returned to the World Series in 1996, Clontz amassed a flawless 0.00 ERA through 2 1/3 total innings pitched. However, the 1995 championship proved to be Clontz’s only title earned in six major-league seasons. Mark Wohlers This article concludes by highlighting one of the Braves’ most memorable closers of all time: Mark Wohlers. The Holyoke, Massachusetts hurler was drafted in the eighth round of the 1988 amateur draft by the Atlanta Braves. He was subsequently dispatched to Pulaski, joining fellow young gun Steve Avery on the roster. Wohlers collected 49 strikeouts through 13 games en route to a 5-3 record in his first professional season at age 18. The climax of Wohlers’ 1988 campaign is remembered in an article by Tom Hufford that is published on the Society for American Baseball Research website. According to Hufford, Wohlers’ best outing of the summer was a complete-game three-hitter that resulted in a 3-2 win for the Braves. However, the effort was overshadowed by Steve Avery’s performance that night…the event was a twinbill, with Wohlers pitching in the second game of the doubleheader. Avery pitched in the opener, engineering the no-hitter noted earlier in this article. Despite the firepower in the Braves bullpen, the Pulaski Braves failed to win the 1988 Appalachian League championship. In fact, no mem ber of the 1995 World Series championship team highlighted in this article earned an Appalachian League title as a member of the Pulaski Braves. Wohlers played in a total of 27 games for the Pulaski Braves from 1988 to 1989. In 1991, Wohlers reached the majors. Wohlers had already logged two World Series appearances when the Braves reached their third World Series of the decade in 1995. Wohlers pitched a total of 1.2 innings through three games in the 1991 World Series, notching one strikeout. In 1992, he graced the mound briefly in two World Series contests. His combined ERA in the 1991 and 1992 World Series was a perfect 0.00. Wohlers saw considerable playing time in the 1995 World Series tilt with the Cleveland Indians. Wohlers appeared in four games, amassing a 1.80 ERA through five innings. Wohlers notched a save in Game Two, dropped a potential save in Game Three, and gave up a home run to one of the two batters he faced in Game Four. Redemption came in Game Six. Following starting pitcher Tom Glavine’s peerless one-hit performance, Wohlers entered Game Six in the ninth inning to preserve the Braves’ 1-0 advantage. Wohlers’ first matchup was against the dangerous, fleet-footed Kenny Lofton. A foul pop fly by Lofton was the first of three fly ball outs recorded in the top of the ninth. Following Lofton, the baseballs of Paul Sorrento and Carlos Baerga found their way into the glove of centerfielder Marquis Grissom. The first pitch of Baerga’s at bat delivered the final out of the 1995 World Series. Wohlers remained on the mound as the iconic dogpile ensued. In total, Wohlers reached the World Series five times with two different organizations. His 12-year major-league career concluded with one World Series ring that, for Wohlers, will forever memorialize one storybook ending.

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