THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 10, 1995 TAG: 9504100105
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FORT MILL, S.C. LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Their perfect start ended Sunday in the fourth game. Still, the Norfolk Tides head north to chilly Moosic, Pa., today - expected high temperature in the 40s - warm from three victories taken amid pristine baseball weather here on the outskirts of Charlotte.
Defeat finally touched the Tides in a 6-5 loss to the Charlotte Knights on a classic sun-washed afternoon, but just barely. Despite a pair of two-run home runs by third baseman Chris Saunders and being outhit, 14-6, the Tides had the tying run on first when Rey Ordonez grounded out to end the game.
They begin a three-game set against the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Red Barons tonight giddy after a well-played series that has made for a confident clubhouse.
``I haven't seen the other teams, but I can't imagine anybody having a better team in Triple-A without their 40-man (roster) players,'' said outfielder Shawn Abner, one half of the Tides' offense Sunday. ``This is a solid team.''
Abner had three singles and scored three runs, twice coming home on the blasts by Saunders, who had the other three hits. It was a home run by Charlotte's Russ Morman, though, a three-run shot in the fifth off Paul Byrd, that forced the Tides to rally from a 4-2 deficit.
They did that on Saunders' second home run in the seventh, but then the Tides' fell to a rare mistake. Bob Stoddard, the 38-year-old righthander struggling so far in his improbable comeback attempt, balked Jeff Carter home with the go-ahead run in the seventh.
A run yielded by Mark Fuller in the eighth provided the final margin but couldn't dampen the enthusiasm of Tides manager Toby Harrah. ``Well, we try to win them all,'' Harrah said. ``We were one big hit away. I'm very, very pleased with the effort. Especially defensively, we're not giving them four outs.''
The Tides made three errors in the four games. Their starting pitchers went at least six innings each time, though Byrd, a former Knight, was tagged the worst. And they showed impressive resilience in the face of deficits - the Knights scored first in three of the four games.
``This is just an example of the way we're going to play all year,'' outfielder Derek Lee said of the series. ``We didn't play badly today by any means. We just got beat.''
Not through any fault of Saunders, who followed Saturday's clutch performance - his triple with two outs in the bottom of the ninth kept alive the Tides' 14-inning victory - with his first multiple home run game as a professional
``Coming out of spring training I felt we had a good team,'' Saunders said. ``This team's got a lot of heart, I think.''
A happy one, too. by CNB