Sprowl was a star pitcher at the University of Alabama, leading the nation in strikeouts per nine innings in 1977. He was selected by the Red Sox in that year\'s amateur draft.\n', '

Sprowl is best known for losing two critical games in the 1978 pennant race between the Red Sox and the New York Yankees. Before he was called up to the majors, Sprowl had compiled a 9-3 record in the AA Eastern League. Boston\'s minor league organization claimed that he "had ice water in his veins," and manager Don Zimmer gave Sprowl three starts late in the season.\n', '

Sprowl\'s first start was in Baltimore on September 5, where he went seven innings, allowing four runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks, but took the loss when Orioles ace (and future Hall-of-Famer) Jim Palmer stifled the Red Sox, who got a second-inning run on a Dwight Evans RBI double, and then nothing more. Sprowl carried the 1-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh, having allowed only two hits to that point, but then surrendered a game-tying home run to Lee May. It was alleged that if Boston left-fielder Jim Rice had not turned the wrong way, he could have caught May\'s hit, which barely cleared a seven-foot fence in left field. Instead he lunged at the last minute and knocked the ball into the bullpen. Andres Mora then grounded through the legs of Red Sox third baseman Butch Hobson, reaching second base. (This was Hobson\'s second error of the game and 35th of the season.). Sprowl retired Rick Dempsey on a grounder to shortstop, as pinch-runner Mike Dimmel advanced to third, and then with the infield playing in, Carlos Lopez hit a soft liner that didn\'t even reach the outfield on the fly, but dropped for a hit and allowed Dimmel to score the eventual winning run. (Sprowl retired the next two batters to end the inning, but gave up a hit and a walk to start the bottom of the eighth, and those runners eventually scored when relief pitcher Dick Drago allowed a two-out, two-strike pinch-hit double by Terry Crowley, providing Baltimore an insurance margin. Zimmer had told Drago to pitch around Crowley ["It doesn\'t matter if you walk Crowley. We can still work to Dempsey."], but was ignored.)\n', '

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