THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 6, 1995 TAG: 9507060494
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
What might have been another fantastic finish by the Norfolk Tides was in the works Wednesday, and their newest player, Virginia Beach's Trey McCoy, was poised to become part of it.
McCoy, who arrived at Harbor Park from Mexico 1 1/2 hours into the game, was on deck with one man on, two runs in and two outs in the ninth inning against the Charlotte Knights. With the Tides down by two, it fell to Omar Garcia, their leading hitter, to keep it alive as a pinch-hitter for McCoy to get a crack at fulfilling a perfect homecoming script.
But Aaron Small spoiled the fun. The Charlotte righthander fanned Garcia on a 2-2 fastball that secured the Knights' 4-2 victory and ended a couple noteworthy streaks: Charlotte (34-51), with the International League's worst record, won for the first time in five games and the torrid Tides finally dropped one after seven wins.
``I felt like I could go, I guess from the adrenaline,'' McCoy said. ``I was pretty drained from the plane flight.''
As were the Tides (56-31) - winners of 14 of 17 entering tonight's national cable broadcast on ESPN2 - weary from an overnight bus ride from Charlotte that dumped them at the ballpark around 5 a.m.
``We made a trip the other way one time, got in around 4:30 a.m. and won, so I can't say it was that,'' said manager Toby Harrah, who had his team skip batting practice. ``But it makes it tougher.''
Life could hardly have been rougher over the last few weeks for Charlotte, which entered Wednesday with 16 losses in its last 19 games.
``That's been the sore point for our staff, being able to close the game out,'' Charlotte manager Sal Rende said. ``Any win is good right now. We've lost so many close ones.''
This one got close because the Tides, after doing nothing against winner Richie Lewis (2-0) over six innings or Jerry Spradlin for two, pounced on Mike Myers for three hits and a run in the ninth inning. Singles by Carl Everett and Butch Huskey, and a one-out RBI-single by Alberto Castillo sent Myers packing.
Small did throw a wild pitch to allow the second run to score, but retired Rey Ordonez on a fly ball and Garcia to hang the loss on Jason Jacome, who probably deserved better.
Jacome (2-2) spread 11 hits over eight innings, but was dinked by the opportunistic Knights for three runs. Charlotte scored in the third on a two-out infield single by former Tide Doug Dascenzo that Huskey, at first base, fell down fielding to his right and couldn't make a throw on.
Dascenzo, who had three hits, none of which left the infield, also drove in the second run with a perfectly executed squeeze bunt that he beat out in the fifth. And in the seventh, pinch-hitter Eddie Zosky, who eventually scored, blooped a double to right that rightfielder Derek Lee would have caught had he not lost it in the lights.
``A couple of their runs were tough to swallow,'' Tides' pitching coach Bob Apodaca said. ``He pitched well enough to come out of that on a little better scale.''
Still, the Tides wound up with a real live loss, their first since June 17 not orchestrated by Ottawa pitcher Ugueth Urbina, who beat them twice in five days in late June. It was just their second defeat in 10 games to the Florida Marlins' affiliate.
``I want to beat them to death,'' said the Tides' Everett, who was traded by the Marlins over the winter. ``But we didn't hit the ball like we normally do. They got the hitting, they did the job, they won.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
LAWRENCE JACKSON/Staff
Norfolk's Ricky Otero watches the ball bounce off the facemask of
Charlotte catcher Bob Natal. The Tides, however, could not bounce
back from a 4-0 deficit against the Knights Wednesday night at
Harbor Park. It was the first loss after seven straight wins for IL
West-leading Norfolk.
by CNB