THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT

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

DATE: SUNDAY, June 26, 1994                    TAG: 9406260267 
SECTION: SPORTS                     PAGE: C4    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: 940626                                 LENGTH: NORFOLK 

TIDES ROLL TO 5TH STRAIGHT WIN

{LEAD} A philosophical sort with a sometimes-skewed take on the world, Eric Hillman of the Norfolk Tides breaks down his enjoyment of life into a couple categories - the pursuit of good pitching, good times and good music, cranked way up.

Considering how the walls of the Tides' clubhouse were shaking once again Saturday night from the high-octane sound of AC/DC pouring from the speakers, Hillman, the clubhouse compact disc-meister, was really living.

{REST} As are the Tides, who are on the roll they've waited for all season.

Behind Hillman's seven strong innings, Pete Walker's first Triple-A save and an opportunistic attack, the Tides beat the Pawtucket Red Sox, 3-1, at Harbor Park for their fifth consecutive victory, their longest streak of success this season.

``When you win, you get to goof around a little bit more,'' said Hillman, a 6-foot-10 lefthander who turned in the Tides' fourth outstanding starting effort in a row. ``You get to come in and jam with all the music and have a good time and congratulate everybody on the way they played.

``That's what I like to try to incorporate; I just want to listen to music after the game. If it takes winning to do that, then I guess we'll have to do that.''

The Tides (36-40) are suddenly doing it with regularity - nine out of their last 12 games. They broke a 1-1 tie in the sixth with a pair of runs on singles by Butch Huskey, Tito Navarro and Omar Garcia, then an RBI-ground out by Jim Vatcher, who earlier recorded his 10th outfield assist of the season.

They then watched Walker escape a bases-loaded jam in the eighth to preserve the lead.

The run has left the Tides as close to the .500 mark as they've been since May 24, when they were 20-24. They are still in last place in the International League's West Division, where they've rested since May 11, yet they are only 7 1/2 games out of first.

They also extended their dominance of the Pawsox (46-29) to six in a row and have outscored them in the three games of this series, 17-3. All three Pawtucket runs, however, have been unearned.

Hillman scattered seven hits but yielded two singles to start the eighth and was removed for Walker, who had struggled to a 9.26 ERA in 11 appearances. But after a sacrifice bunt and a walk loaded the bases, Walker got Greg Litton to bounce to third baseman Butch Huskey for a third-to-first double play to end the threat.

``As soon as I saw it coming down, I knew he was going to step on the bag and get him at first,'' Walker said. ``That's the best feeling I've had since I've been here.''

Not long after, Hillman got to load up the CD player again. Life was good.

by CNB