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

DATE: FRIDAY, June 17, 1994                    TAG: 9406170726 
SECTION: SPORTS                     PAGE: C3    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY STEVE NEWMAN, CORRESPONDENT 
DATELINE: 940617                                 LENGTH: OTTAWA

TIDES COME UP EMPTY AGAINST OTTAWA, 3-0

{LEAD} Towering 6-foot-7 Jimmy Williams of Ottawa set aside his grief and handcuffed the Norfolk Tides, 3-0, Thursday night, completing the first nine-inning performance by an Ottawa Lynx pitcher this season.

Earlier in the day his fiancee's grandmother passed away in Butler, Ala.

{REST} Williams acknowledged that he had dedicated the game to his grandmother.

Williams, who has a history of doing his best pitching in June and July, only had trouble with one batter - opposing pitcher Kevin Morton, who was back starting after a spell in the bullpen.

His second hit of the game - a drive over leftfielder Derek Lee's head in the fifth inning - was quickly cut off by centerfielder Rondell White as Morton headed for second. He beat the throw, but slid by the bag and was tagged out.

``He (Williams) dominated us tonight,'' Tides manager Bobby Valentine said. ``Other than Morton no one hit him solid. When you have only one guy get to second base, that's not a really easy way to score. We just didn't have any offense.''

Ottawa opened the scoring in the third inning when Chris Martin - who broke out of a 1-for-26 slump with two hits the night before - singled, took second on Williams' sacrifice bunt, and scored on White's single when Norfolk catcher Brook Fordyce dropped the ball on a two-hopper to the plate.

White, who took second on the throw to the plate, padded the Lynx lead to 2-0 when he scored on Randy Ready's single to centerfield.

The Tides' defense helped avoid another two-run Ottawa inning in the fourth. when Lee walked and second baseman Quilvio Veras made a diving backhand stab of a Tim Laker ground ball but flipped wide of shortstop Aaron Ledesma, who was covering the bag. The tight defense continued when Morton pounced on a bunt and caught Lee in a rundown between third and home. But the lefthander proceeded to hurt the Tides twice in less than an inning.

With two out in the same inning, Morton uncorked a wild pitch to his pitching counterpart, Williams, as Laker slid home for a 3-0 lead.

Williams, in improving his record to 5-1, lowered his ERA to 1.75 and an incredible 0.29 at home.

The four-game series resumes tonight with Jason Jacome (5-4, 2.84) facing Ottawa's Rod Henderson (2-4, 4.95).

by CNB