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

DATE: MONDAY, May 10, 1993                   TAG: 9305100140
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From staff reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

TECH NEAR METRO LEAD

Bo Durkac's bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth Sunday gave Virginia Tech an 8-7 Metro Conference victory over South Florida at Blacksburg, completing a three-game series sweep and closing the Hokies to a half-game of the league-leading Bulls.

Tech (32-11 overall, 10-4 Metro) put itself into position to win its first Metro regular-season title since 1981. The Hokies play Southern Mississippi three times at home next weekend. The 21st-ranked Bulls play host to Virginia Commonwealth three times in their final Metro series next weekend.

The regular-season winner gets a bye in the Metro tournament that begins May 19 in Richmond.

Tech reliever Jamie Patteson (7-0) pitched five scoreless innings, allowing four hits and one walk while striking out four.

In other college baseball:

\ BIG SOUTH TOURNAMENT: Radford, seeded fifth in the Big South Conference Tournament, plays second-seeded Maryland-Baltimore County at 9:30 a.m. Thursday in a first-round matchup. Top-seeded Coastal Carolina is host of the event in Conway, S.C. The Highlanders finished 23-17 overall and 10-10 in the league; UMBC is 24-13 and 14-8. Seeding is done by number of conference victories. In other first-round matchups Thursday, Coastal Carolina (28-24, 15-8) plays sixth-seeded Liberty (17-22, 10-11) and third-seeded Towson State (19-22, 14-9) plays fourth-seeded Winthrop (26-29, 12-10).

by CNB