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

DATE: FRIDAY, April 12, 1991                   TAG: 9104120281
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOHN SMALLWOOD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

RECORD CROWD SEES BUCS FALL 6-3

Certainly, it wasn't the way the Salem Buccaneers wanted to start their 1991 Carolina League baseball season, but as far as Winston-Salem right fielder John Jensen was concerned, things couldn't have gone much better.

Jensen was 4-for-4 with two doubles, a home run and four RBI as the Spirits beat Salem 6-3 in front of an Opening Day-record crowd of 3,127 Thursday night at Municipal Field.

With the game scoreless, Jensen opened the third inning with a double to right and eventually scored. His two-run homer off Salem starter Steve Buckholz in the fourth put Winston-Salem up 4-0. And after the Bucs had cut the lead in half, Jensen secured the victory with a two-run double in the eighth off reliever Eric Parkinson.

"That's a great way to start the season," said Jensen, who hit .246 with 12 home runs and 68 RBI last season in the Carolina League. "I was seeing the ball pretty well. Buckholz pitched well; he just made a couple of mistakes."

The Bucs (0-1) actually had the first opportunity to score.

Left fielder Alberto De Los Santos got Salem's first hit by tripling to right-center to start the bottom of the second inning. But Spirits starter Troy Bradford retired the next three Bucs, stranding De Los Santos.

"That turned the game around," said Salem manager Stan Cliburn. "We got the first chance at deflating them. Their pitcher got out of the jam, and that lifted their whole team. It shows that this game is a matter of momentum."

Bradford scattered four hits over seven innings, then got relief help from Travis Willis.

Salem got its first run in the fourth inning when De Los Santos scored on an error by Spirits shortstop Pete Castellano. The Bucs pulled to 4-2 in the sixth on a run-scoring groundout by catcher Keith Osik.

But then Jensen finished them.

"It was a one-man show by Jensen," said Cliburn. "I was pleased with the way Buckholz threw, and Parkinson pitched well. They just ran into the man of the night [Jensen]."

De Los Santos and third baseman Kevin Young each had two hits for the Bucs.

\ BUCSHOTS: Salem second baseman Austin Manahan is celebrating his 21st birthday today. . . . Left-hander Rich Robertson, who was 3-4 with a 3.08 ERA last season at short-season Class A Welland (Ontario), will start for the Bucs tonight. Right-hander Ryan Hawblitzel goes for Winston-Salem. . . . Outfielders Ken Trusky and Mike Brewington are the only left-handed batters on the Bucs' roster. Utility man Rob Bailey is a switch-hitter. see

microfilm for box score

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