DATE: Monday, May 19, 1997                  TAG: 9705190164

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C4   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   61 lines

TIDES PULL IT OUT IN 9TH INNING ON HARDTKE'S SINGLE

The Norfolk Tides handed out 5,000 posters of second baseman Jason Hardtke prior to Sunday afternoon's game.

The Tides wish all poster boys played so well.

Hardtke went 3 for 5 and drove in the game-winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Tides beat the Charlotte Knights 5-4 at Harbor Park for their eighth victory in 11 games.

The outcome allowed the Tides (25-18) to climb seven games above .500 for the first time this season and remain a half-game behind International West Division-leading Toledo.

With runners at first and third and one out, Hardtke drove an Antonio Alfonseca sinker to the warning track in left. Jose Olmeda, having no chance of throwing out Luis Lopez who was tagging, slowed at the track and let the ball drop for a single.

``I appreciate that,'' said Hardtke, who raised his average 10 points to

``That was my first time as a poster boy so it was kind of nice.''

Trailing 4-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth, Norfolk's rally began with Scott McClain drawing a leadoff walk from reliever Donn Pall. Pinch-runner Ramon Espinosa was out at second on a failed sacrifice bunt by Charlie Greene, but Lopez, pinch-hitting, followed with a sharp pinch-hit single to center.

Shawn Gilbert then delivered a broken-bat single to right on a full count to score Greene from second and tie it.

``At that point you're just trying to get the bat on the ball, put it in play and give the next guy a chance to do something,'' Gilbert said. ``He threw me a slider or forkball away.''

The Tides have now won five times in their last at-bat.

``And every time it looks like it's been somebody different,'' said Tom Lawless, subbing for manager Rick Dempsey who was in Philadelphia attending his son John's graduation at Villanova. ``It was Gilbert today, which was nice because he'd struggled to that point.''

The Tides trailed right to the end in this one after Charlotte's Alex Cole and Dave Berg opened the game with back-to-back home runs off Tides lefthander Joe Crawford.

Norfolk scored in the third on a double by McClain followed by a one-out single by Crawford, a Gilbert walk and a run-scoring single to center by Hardtke.

Charlotte, however, scored runs in the fifth and sixth to take a 4-1 lead. Bob Natal doubled with one out in the fifth, moved to third on a wild pitch by Crawford and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Chris Sheff.

Hardtke almost gave the Tides the lead in the seventh when he drove a William Hurst pitch to the fence in right with a runner on.

``I felt good with all of my at-bats today,'' he said. ``Even on the first one when I struck out, I was seeing the ball good.''

Note: The probable pitching matchups for tonight's game (7:15) at Harbor Park are lefthander Brian Bohanon (2-0, 4.91) for the Tides against righthander Chris Seelbach (3-0, 6.68) for Charlotte. ILLUSTRATION: LAWRENCE JACKSON/The Virginian-Pilot

Charlotte centerfielder Alex Cole slides but is unable to come up

with Charlie Greene's leadoff single for the Tides in the seventh

inning.

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