THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, April 17, 1995 TAG: 9504170112
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
It was a sleepy Easter Sunday afternoon at Harbor Park, where good buddies in either upper deck could've easily yelled to each other across the way. The odd silence was broken a couple times, both as the Norfolk Tides rallied from deficits to overtake the Rochester Red Wings.
The Tides' third victory in four games over Rochester was a 6-5 thriller that deserved more enthusiasm from the paid crowd of 5,485. The Tides, once behind, 3-0, battled back for a 4-3 lead after seven innings, then fell behind again when Rochester scored twice in the eighth.
Just as spunky, the Tides (7-3) scored two more in the eighth to go back on top, then hung on as lefthander Jimmy Williams survived one more Red Wing uprising for a save as runners died on second and third base.
Williams got Tyrone Woods, his teammate last season in Ottawa, to ground out to second on a full-count pitch to end the game. This
after Williams walked a man and gave up a two-out double to T.R. Lewis, who had four hits.
``The guys battled back to go ahead, and there was no way in the world I was going to let them take the lead or tie the game,'' said Williams, who earned his second save as fellow reliever Bryan Rogers got the victory.
With Chris Jones leading the way again with two hits and three RBIs, the Tides collected 12 hits. The last two were consecutive singles by Ed Alicea and Derek Lee in the eighth that drove in the decisive runs.
The single completed a nice day for Alicea, the second baseman the Tides picked up in a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers three days before the season started. Alicea, a switch-hitter batting second in the order, walked, singled twice, stole a base, drove in a run and continued to impress Tides manager Toby Harrah with his overall play.
``He's been right up there at the front of the batting order and he's been doing more than his part,'' Harrah said of Alicea, who leads the Tides with nine runs scored. ``He's kind of been setting the table and Derek Lee and Chris Jones have been taking advantage of it.''
Jones especially, who enjoyed his third consecutive two-hit game. Jones doubled in the Tides' first two runs in the third, then poked an RBI-single in the fifth to pull the Tides even, 3-3. He was intentionally walked with one out and a man on second in the seventh, when the Tides took a 4-3 lead on Jeff Barry's bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
``He's locked in,'' Harrah said. ``Every at-bat is pretty much a quality at-bat.''
The Tides were around to win in the end because starter Dave Telgheder rebounded from a rough couple of innings to stem the flow of runs. A run in the first and a two-run home run by Scott McClain in the second gave Rochester its 3-0 lead. But Telgheder gave up only an unearned run over the next five innings to keep the Tides within shouting distance.
``This team has come back all year so far,'' Telgheder said. ``As a pitcher, you might not get the win, but if you can keep it close the team might get something.'' by CNB