ROANOKE TIMES 

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 12, 1990                   TAG: 9007120267
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOHN SMALLWOOD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RED SOX HOMERS BUG BUCCANEERS

At times Wednesday night, it was hard to tell what was more annoying to the Salem Buccaneers - the thousands of beetles that swarmed Municipal Field or the number of baseballs the Lynchburg Red Sox drove out of the park.

Jim Byrd deposited the first pitch of the game over the scoreboard in left field, and the Red Sox hit four more home runs as they muscled their way to a 12-7 victory over the Bucs in Carolina League baseball.

Byrd, Greg Blosser and Les Wallin hit one each and Paul Williams drilled two as Lynchburg (8-11) won a battle of the league's top two teams in homers. The Red Sox and Bucs each have hit 65.

Salem (6-13) outhit Lynchburg 14-12, but 10 of the Red Sox's hits went for extra bases. They had five doubles to go with their home runs.

Blosser led off the fourth inning with a homer off Bucs starter Tim Wakefield (5-9), and Williams immediately followed with one to make it 3-0.

The first three hits Wakefield gave up cleared the outfield wall.

Lynchburg led 5-1 before the Bucs rallied.

With one out in the bottom of sixth, Tim Hines hit his fifth home run of the season. Then, hits by Darwin Pennye and Ken Trusky, followed by an error on a grounder by Ben Shelton, produced another run. Consecutive singles by Glen McNabb, Rob Bailey and Greg Sims tied the score at 5.

Salem could have used more runs, because Wakefield didn't have his best stuff. The knuckleball pitcher walked Ed Perozo to start the seventh inning. Then, after getting two outs, he yielded a hit to Scott Powers and a run-scoring double to Blosser. Willie Tatum's two-run double made it an 8-5 game.

"[Wakefield] gave up those three solo homers, but we tied it for him," said Stan Cliburn, the Bucs' manager. "We wanted him to shut them down in the seventh and get a chance to pick up a win. He needs to become consistent."

Lynchburg put the game out of reach with three runs in the eighth off reliever Bobby Underwood.

\ BUCSHOTS: The Bucs lost their closer Wednesday when their parent club, the Pittsburgh Pirates, traded Jim Czajkowski to the Milwaukee Brewers for infielder Greg Edge. . . . Salem starter Paul Miller (5-4, 2.80 ERA) was added to the North team for the Carolina League All-Star game because Lynchburg pitcher Freddie Davis was promoted to New Britain (Conn.) of the Class AA Eastern League.

LYNCHBURG SALEM ab r h bi ab r h bi Byrd ss6121 Sims cf5011 Powers 2b4210 Schreiber 3b5010 Blosser rf4333 Romero c5121 Williams c4235 Hines dh4111 Tatum dh4012 Pennye lf4110 Whitehead 3b4000 Trusky rf5230 Wallin 1b4221 Shelton 1b5222 Perozo lf3100 McNabb 2b5011 Leach cf4100 Bailey ss4021 Totals37 12 12 12 Totals 42 7 14 7

Lynchburg100 202 331-12 Salem000 014 002-7

E-Sims, Byrd. LOB-Lynchburg 6, Salem 10. 2B-Blosser 2, Williams, Tatum, Wallin, Schreiber, Trusky 2, Shelton. HR-Hines (5), Romero (8), Byrd (6), Blosser (11), Williams 2 (12), Wallin (10). SB-Bailey (10). S-Leach. IP HRERBBSO Lynchburg Landy 585411 Pratts W, 4-1 130011 Scott 232203 Salem Wakefield L, 5-9 798847 Underwood 13330 Williams 121111

WP-Pratt.

Umpires-Home, Stone; bases, Vestal and Langley.

T-3:07. A-1,062. 


 by CNB