Old-school start for Schilling

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Curt Schilling was only a couple of batters into his first game in a Red Sox uniform when a heavy-set spectator sitting just below the press box at City of Palms Park collapsed with an apparent heart attack.

Emergency medical technicians responded immediately, Sox PR assistant Meghan McClure called 911, which brought more assistance, and the man not only regained consciousness, but according to one of the attending EMTs, he said on the way to the hospital that he already was making plans for the rest of his weekend.

"He said he'd be back for the Yankee game on Sunday -- he couldn't miss that," said Joseph DeVito, an EMT for Lee County.

Schilling didn't have to deal with the Yankees last night; he was facing the Huskies of Northeastern University, the evening half of a Sox day-night twin bill against college teams. But after three shutout innings of an eventual 7-0 Sox win, Schilling insisted it didn't matter whom he was facing, his approach would have been the same.

"Regardless of the team, I probably would have thrown that same assortment of pitches -- stay with my fastball, make sure my command is there, and I felt like it was," Schilling said.

Schilling threw 36 pitches, 28 for strikes. He set the side down in order on 11 pitches, taking just four minutes, in the first inning. He was touched for a couple of singles in the second, but center fielder Gabe Kapler threw out Paul Koslowski attempting to score on Brad Czarnowski's line single, and gave up an infield hit in the third inning, which concluded with a double play started by third baseman Bill Mueller.

His feeling about the outing?

"Good, nervous," he said while modeling a vintage Sandy Koufax Dodgers jersey. "I'm either in neutral or I'm in full throttle. I don't have a second gear.

"My two main goals today were to make sure I could throw to both sides of the plate and tempo. As I said, I go from zero to full throttle, and sometimes tempo is the hardest thing for me to grab onto in the spring."

Facing college kids from the other side of the Fens barely registered, he said.

"I didn't think a whole lot about 'em," he said. "Nothing personal, but I'm trying to get some stuff done. I never did that [face a big league team] when I was in junior college. I'm sure they were pretty fired up about it, and I hope they had a good time."

Czarnowski, a Waltham native and senior cocaptain, said Schilling was obviously on Husky minds before the game.

"Pretty nerve-racking," he said. "He's a big guy for the Red Sox, and when we saw on their website that we were facing him, our eyes lit up. I was very nervous. Going up there, I was swinging at anything around the plate. He left a pitch up, and I was lucky, I guess. Pretty nice."

Cesar Crespo, who started at shortstop instead of Nomar Garciaparra, hit a three-run home run for the Sox. David McCarty, trying to make the club as an outfielder/pitcher, worked a 1-2-3 seventh, striking out one.