THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, August 17, 1995 TAG: 9508170685
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE WISEMAN, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: FORT MILL, S.C. LENGTH: Short : 50 lines
Charlotte broke a tie with aggressive baserunning and stopped a Norfolk Tides rally with a spectacular defensive play in a 5-4 win at Knights Castle on Wednesday.
Last-place Charlotte (53-72), winner of five straight games, broke a 4-4 tie without getting a hit in the seventh. Doug Dascenzo reached on first baseman Omar Garcia's error, stole and third and came home on Tides catcher Cesar Diaz's throwing error.
In the eighth, Charlotte second baseman Jeff Carter and catcher Erik Pappas hooked up to keep the Knights in the lead.
Alex Ochoa, who doubled to start the inning, represented the tying run at third with one out. Kevin Morgan hit a high pop along the rightfield line that Carter, a defensive replacement, raced over to catch in foul territory.
When Ochoa broke from third, Carter whirled and threw home. Pappas scooped up the ball on one hop and spun around to tag Ochoa as the two slammed together.
It took a perfect play to get Ochoa and Tides manager Toby Harrah thought his player's decision was correct.
``It looked right at the time,'' said Harrah, whose team's magic number for clinching the IL West title is six. ``It was a good aggressive play. I liked it.''
Harrah didn't like the Tides' play overall: The two errors that allowed Dascenzo to score the winning run and a walk to Charlotte pitcher Kurt Miller that ignited a three-run third inning.
``Billy Martin used to say you don't win ballgames, other teams lose them.'' Harrah said. ``We lost this game.''
Norfolk starting pitcher Robert Person struggled over the first three innings. Charlotte scored a run in the first, driven in by Rod Brewer.
After the Tides tied the game at 1 on Garcia's two-out, run-scoring single, the Knights sent nine men to the plate in the third to take a 4-1 lead.
But Person settled down and the Tides came back. The pitcher singled and scored on Garcia's two-out single in the fifth, cutting the Knights lead to 4-2.
Russ Morman's error allowed the Tides to tie the game at 4 in the seventh. Diaz singled and took second on Person's sacrifice bunt. After Ricky Otero struck out, Jay Payton hit a fly to right that bounced off Morman's glove. Diaz scored and Payton took second. Garcia followed with a double. by CNB