Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 29, 1993 TAG: 9306290233
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The bullpen yielded only four hits and no runs over the last 6 1/3 innings as the Bucs rallied from four runs down to beat the Kinston Indians 8-7 in 11 innings at Municipal Field.
Ken Bonifay doubled off Scott Morgan to lead off the 11th and Mike Brown followed one out later with a run-scoring single to end it.
Salem (4-4) climbed to two games behind the front-running Indians (6-2) in the Southern Division with the victory.
"The bullpen did a heck of a job," Salem manager Scott Little said.
Indeed, Dennis Konuszewski - new to the pen in the second half of the season - Sean Evans, Jason Christiansen, Jeff McCurry, and Mark Mesewicz were well-nigh impregnable after the Indians took a 7-3 lead with all the runs coming off Dan Jones in the first 4 2/3 innings.
Jones was making his first start after being demoted from Class AA Carolina.
"That was huge for us," Bonifay said. "We've been losing so many of those kinds of games. It's great to win one."
Salem, 7-5 in extra-inning games, had 16 hits with leadoff man Tony Womack and Brown bopping three each. Brown drove in a pair of runs and Joe Ronca banged in three more. Five Bucs had multiple hits.
"We really swung the bats tonight, didn't we?" Little said.
Salem rallied from two runs down to take a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the first. Brown, Ronca and Chance Sanford all drove in runs - Brown with a sacrifice fly to deep center, and Ronca and Sanford with shots up the middle.
It all came apart in the fifth when Kinston stormed ahead with five runs, four of them coming off Pete Rose's grand slam, one of a pair of homers on the night for Kinston. Pork Chop Pough had a two-run blast in the first.
Salem chipped away with one run in the sixth, two more in the seventh, and another in the eighth. There it stood until Brown's decisive single to right.
"He threw me two fastballs, the first one in and the second right where I wanted it," he said.
\ BUCSHOTS: Salem had another roster shakeup with right-handers Dave Doorneweerd (2-8, 5.48 ERA) and Gary Wilson (5-5, 5.74) being dispatched to Augusta. In return came Michel LaPlante (5-5, 3.46) and utility infielder Don Garvey. Even with the addition of Jones, Salem is still at full complement because pitcher Eric Parkinson is on leave to play in an international tournament in the Netherlands. . . . The Bucs had a terrible time with Kinston leadoff man John Cotton, who went 5-for-6 with a triple and two runs scored.
NOTE: See microfilm for scores.
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB