THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 9, 1995 TAG: 9504090256
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FORT MILL, S.C. LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
An early April evening that was warm and pretty enough to play two almost enticed the Norfolk Tides and Charlotte Knights to do just that Saturday.
The International League rivals wrangled beyond four hours, keeping a Knights Castle crowd of 7,159 cooling its heels for the postgame fireworks show, before the Tides' Chris Jones blasted his second home run of the season to start the 14th inning.
The shot to left-center off Keith Brown, the Knights' sixth pitcher, lifted the Tides to a 6-5 victory, their third in a row to open the season.
But it wasn't that uncomplicated. The Knights rallied in their half of the 14th to put Russ Morman on second base with two outs. Terry Jorgensen followed with a single to rightfield, where Jones charged, fielded the ball and threw a two-hop strike to catcher Charlie Greene to retire the rumbling Morman for the final out of the game.
``I felt better about the throw than the home run,'' said Jones, ``because it ended the game, finally. I was just thinking don't overthrow it. Throw it right into the ground, because you have a better chance than if it's high, where it could go over his head.''
Jones was in position to star both ways because the Tides conjured up a one-run rally in the ninth after whittling down to their last out. Chris Saunders tripled off the glove of centerfielder Nick Capra, and Ed Alicea poked a double to right on the next pitch to tie the game at 5-5.
That eruption followed a three-run eighth inning that gave the Tides a short-lived 4-3 advantage. Rey Ordonez's two-run single with the bases loaded tied it and Jarvis Brown's bloop to left knocked in the inning's third run.
But the Knights welcomed reliever Bryan Rogers into the game with two consecutive hits, the second being a wind-blown home run by Kiki Hernandez that pushed Charlotte back on top for the time being.
Under their former major league affiliation, the Knights owned the Tides the past two seasons, to the tune of a 26-9 record. But those talented Cleveland Indians' prospects have departed, and have been replaced by Florida Marlins' property that is decidedly less fearsome. At the least, these Knights hold no power yet over the Tides.
``Everybody contributed. A great team effort,'' Tides manager Toby Harrah said. ``We came back three different times in that ballgame.''
The game marked the first Triple-A start for lefthander Chris Roberts, who pitched the first six innings and gave up nine hits, a walk and struck out five. He left trailing, 2-1.
It also was the Triple-A debut for reliever Mark Fuller, who entered in the 14th with a man on first. After striking out Capra, he got Morman to ground to Alicea at second, but Ordonez's throw to complete the double play went into the Knights' dugout.
Jorgensen followed with his single, but Jones' throw earned Fuller his first save. by CNB