THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 14, 1994 TAG: 9408150171
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY AIMEE FORD, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: TOLEDO, OHIO LENGTH: Short : 49 lines
Ben Blomdahl scattered three hits over eight innings and Matt Bauer pitched a scoreless ninth Saturday as the Toledo Mud Hens defeated the Norfolk Tides, 7-0, before 5,586 at Ned Skeldon Stadium.
``That was my best outing of the year right there,'' said Blomdahl (8-10). ``Jonesie (pitching coach Jeff Jones) and I scrapped my mechanics. A new windup really helped me. I was able to get on top of the ball and get a little more on it than I had in the past. I credit Jonesie for taking the time and working with me.''
Solid defense behind Blomdahl helped the cause. The Mud Hens turned two double plays, shortstop Jim Givens made a great diving catch of a liner in the ninth, and centerfielder Bobby Higginson threw out Fernando Vina in the sixth when he tried to stretch a single into a double.
The Mud Hens committed two errors and had several baserunning mistakes but played well enough to overcome those.
``That's the first time that we've made an error and it didn't come back to hurt us,'' Toledo manager Larry Parrish said. ``We made some plays in the infield, we got pitching, we got a big home run.''
Norfolk's Frank Seminara, who has lost four consecutive starts, escaped trouble when he put a pair of Mud Hens aboard in both the first and second innings, but he couldn't get out of a third-inning jam.
Second baseman Shannon Penn singled and stole second, and Steve Springer and Higginson walked to load the bases with no outs. Penn scored on a groundout, and Springer and Higginson both scored when Tony Clark hit a blooper to shallow left for a 3-0 Toledo lead.
Toledo didn't threaten again until the sixth. After Clark led off with a single, Seminara (4-7) got the next two Mud Hens but gave up a single to Pete Gonzalez and then hit Jim Givens to load the bases. That chased Seminara, who was relieved by Kenny Greer. Greer got Penn to fly out to end the inning.
Greer fell apart in the seventh, giving up a leadoff single to Springer, a walk to Higginson and then hitting Ingram to load the bases with no outs. A Clark groundout scored Springer, and Rudy Pemberton followed with a three-run home run to close the scoring.
The Tides managed only five hits and got only got three runners into scoring position.
The teams wrap up the series today at 2 p.m. by CNB