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

DATE: SATURDAY, September 17, 1994                   TAG: 9410240011
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

JILTED PIRATES FIND NEW HOME

``This was the first piece in the puzzle,'' he said. ``I think that everything else will fall into place quickly.''

Hopkins was right. The ``everything else'' fell together with breathtaking swiftness.

The Pittsburgh Pirates, unceremoniously booted from Salem to make way for the Rockies, struck a two-year deal with Lynchburg less than 24 hours after receiving a fax from Salem owner Kelvin Bowles saying they were out of a home.

Pirates player development director Chet Montgomery and Lynchburg owner Calvin Falwell consummated a deal by telephone Friday morning.

``We wanted to stay in the Carolina League and this was our only opportunity to do so,'' Montgomery said.

The Pirates are taking the place of the Boston Red Sox, who vacated Lynchburg at the end of the past season after seven years . The Red Sox were overcome by the strain of operating two fast-track Class A clubs in the Florida State League and the Carolina League and intend to perch in either the Midwest League or (less likely) the South Atlantic League.

In Winston-Salem, meanwhile, the Cincinnati Reds are keeping their affiliate of the past two years squirming.

``We haven't heard anything,'' a spokesman for the Spirits said.

Chief Bender, the Reds farm director, was out of town and did not return phone calls.

``I don't know when it's going to be announced that the Reds are going back to Winston-Salem, but I think it will be,'' Montgomery said.

Keywords:
BASEBALL