Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 19, 1995 TAG: 9504190065
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Most of those who didn't have a professional obligation to hold their seats until the final out of the Kinston Indians 15-2 throttling of the Salem Avalanche on Tuesday made an early exit from Municipal Field.
They shouldn't have been so cynical. Two compelling storylines continued until the late stages.
The Indians' Bruce Aven came to the plate in the eighth with a chance to hit his fourth home run of the evening. An inning later, teammate Todd Betts arrived at the plate a homer short of hitting for the cycle.
Both were disappointed, not that it was so bad for Aven to settle for a sharply struck single to right and Betts to submit to being put on via a base on balls.
Aven went 4-for-5 to raise his batting average 71 points to .255 and surged into a tie for the Carolina League lead with four homers. Betts went 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI.
``Last week, neither one of them could hit his [rear end] with both hands,'' Indians manager Gordie MacKenzie said. ``You figure it out.''
One thing's for sure, the five Avalanche pitchers couldn't sort out a way to get them out.
Salem manager Bill Hayes just shook his head when considering Aven's activities.
``He used all fields,'' he said.
Aven was happy to be using any field.
``I got off to a slow start and I was putting a lot of pressure on myself to get a lot of hits,'' he said. ``The last couple of nights, I've taken the see-it-and-hit-it approach.''
An approach that had a tendency to put a lot of pressure on the the guys in purple pinstripes. Aven arrived in town batting .152, then proceeded to go 6-for-10 in two games. Included was a two-run single that won Monday's game 6-4 in 10 innings.
Then there were the homers.
``If I'd tried to have hit the home runs, I wouldn't have hit any of them,'' he said. ``All I was trying to do was keep my hands back and let it hit on the sweet part of the bat.''
Kinston had 17 hits, including two doubles and two triples. Greg Thomas clobbered a three-run homer in the third off Salem starter Doug Walls.
Walls greeted the next batter, Rick Prieto, with a pitch that whizzed past the back of his head. Umpire Dan Iassogna gave Walls an immediate dismissal. Reliever Jeff Locklear, a free-agent signee who worked for the San Francisco Giants' organzation last year, then proceeded to give up eight hits and eight runs in an inning.
``We hit the ball well tonight,'' MacKenzie said. ``Everything was in the gap, over the fence, or somewhere.''
The other dominating figure for Kinston was starter Kris Hanson, who worked six shutout innings.
``The guy beat us with fastballs,'' Hayes said. ``Once he got the lead, he kept coming.''
Pedro Carranza broke up the shutout by stroking a leadoff homer, his second of the season, to greet lean reliever Igor Orpaza in the seventh.
Brian Culp delivered the same rude welcome to Rafael Mesa in the ninth.
``The best thing we can do about this is forget about and come back in here tomorrow ready to win a ballgame,'' Hayes said.
The Avalanche will be trying to snap a losing streak that has grown to four games, all at home.
``We're not ranting and raving,'' Hayes said. ``We'll beat somebody like this before the season's over.''
AVALANCHE DEBRIS: Salem right-hander Jamey Wright (1-1, 4.35) will oppose right-hander Rick Heiserman (0-1, 7.45) as the series continues tonight. ... Three of Kinston's four homers came after two were out.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
by CNB