ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 17, 1996 TAG: 9604170067
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WILMINGTON, DEL.
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
It took one inning for Wilmington to shake off Salem's season-opening stranglehold on the Blue Rocks.
Wilmington scored eight runs in the bottom of the seventh Tuesday night to secure an 11-2 victory over the Avalanche in a Carolina League game at Frawley Stadium. It was the Blue Rocks' second victory against Salem in six tries this season.
Al Shirley paced the barrage with an inside-the-park home run, which drove in three runs, and a leadoff double. Shirley, a George Washington-Danville alumnus, scored two runs in the inning.
The Blue Rocks (4-8) sent 12 batters to the plate in the seventh, and they victimized three Avalanche pitchers for five hits. Bob McNally had the other big blow, plating two runs with a one-out single.
Going into the bottom of the seventh, Salem (6-6) held a 2-1 lead. But the Avalanche missed a golden opportunity to pad the lead in the top of the seventh.
Salem had runners on second and third with no outs and the bases loaded with one out but failed to score. Nate Holdren struck out looking for the second out, and Ronnie Hall grounded out to third with the bases loaded to kill the threat.
Salem had eight hits for the game, but the Avalanche left nine runners on base.
In the fourth inning, Holdren got Salem on the board with a leadoff home run, which broke an 0-for-18 slump. Salem then took a 2-1 lead in the fifth when Steve Bernhardt scored on Kyle Houser's RBI double to left field. Bernhardt had reached on a walk and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Elvis Pena.
From there, however, Wilmington scored the final 10 runs - eight in the seventh and two in the eighth.
Luther Hackman (1-1) took the loss for Salem. Three Avalanche pitchers gave up 10 hits, and Salem committed three errors.
Pat Flury (2-0) pitched a scoreless seventh to grab the victory for the Blue Rocks.
The teams play again at 1 p.m. today with Doug Million starting on the mound for the Avalanche and Lance Carter pitching for Wilmington.
NOTE: Please see microfilm for scores.
LENGTH: Short : 50 linesby CNB