
                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, June 13, 1994                    TAG: 9406130261 
SECTION: SPORTS                     PAGE: C4    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY DENISE MICHAUX, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940613                                 LENGTH: Medium

THIS TY COBB WINS A TITLE WITH HIS NEWPORT NEWS BASEBALL TEAM

{LEAD} This Ty Cobb may not have gotten 4,000 hits or stolen 800 bases, but on Sunday he did do something his namesake never did - win a championship.

Ty Cobb, the manager of Bill's Sports Center team from Newport News, guided his team to the gold medal in the 13-under baseball tournament in the Virginia State Games at the Old Dominion University baseball complex.

{REST} Bill's Sports Center held off the Virginia Jazz, 5-4, in the title game. The Tidewater Blasters downed the Norfolk Aces, 12-1, to take home the bronze medal.

The closest the other Ty Cobb could come to a championship was runner-up in three World Series. Even during his six years as a player/manager for the Tigers, a title eluded him.

``I used to get teased about it more when I was a kid,'' said Bill's Sports manager Cobb. ``There is no story behind it.

I'm from Georgia and my parents loved baseball. . . . I guess I should have changed it a long time ago.''

Cobb's players had the luxury of relaxing and waiting for the 2 p.m. gold-medal game to roll around. The Virginia Jazz, on the other hand, had to win two games earlier in the day to earn the right to play for gold medal. The Northern Virginia team played 21 innings of baseball with minutes of rest in between each game.

You never would have guessed from the way the Jazz rallied.

Bill's Sports Center used a three-run third to take a 4-0 lead.

After Adam Reaves walked the first batter, the Jazz went down on three straight fly balls in the bottom half of the inning and it looked as if Bill's Sports Center was in control.

``When you are out here in the sun and playing all day, it starts to wear on you,'' said Jazz manager Skyles Calhoun.

The Jazz loaded the bases and got runs on an groundout and wild pitch in the bottom half of the fourth.

Mike Trussell answered back for Bill's Sports Club in the top of the fifth when he hit a single, stole two bases and scored on an error.

Travis Cobb, who had been playing centerfield, took the mound in the fifth for Bill's. He began the inning with a strikeout, then walked Matt Klancer. With two outs, Robby Tiffany blasted a 2-1 pitch over the leftfield fence for the only home run of the tournament.

Trussell moved to the mound to toss the final two innings for Bill's Sports Center. In the seventh, Klancer walked and Pat Flynn singled as the Jazz put runners on first and third to bring Tiffany up again.

But this time he hit into a game-ending double play.

\ Fourteen players from the top three teams made up an all-tournament team. Cobb, Trussell, Brian Thompson, James Allen and Richie Rivera topped the list from Bill's Sports Center. Tiffany, Jorge Urriata, Klancer, Drew Whitehurst and Jeff Baker represented Virginia Jazz.

Greg Forbes, Brian Schuler, Chris Perry and Josh Roenker of the Tidewater Blasters were also named to the team.

by CNB