THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, April 15, 1996                 TAG: 9604150153
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: C2   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY STAN OLSON, CORRESPONDENT 
DATELINE: FORT MILL, S.C.                    LENGTH: Medium:   52 lines

TIDES DROP 2ND IN ROW; NEXT STOP IS OTTAWA

Norfolk Tides leftfielder Kevin Flora, already a hero one time Sunday afternoon, just missed being one twice.

And the result was a 4-3 victory for Charlotte at Knights Castle.

The loss, Norfolk's second straight by one run, dropped the Tides to 6-4 in the West Division as they travel to Ottawa tonight.

Knights righthander Kurt Miller cruised into the fifth inning with a 3-0 lead over Norfolk starter Rick Reed. But with one out, Kevin Morgan doubled to left. An out later, pinch-hitter Jay Payton walked, bringing leadoff batter Flora to the plate.

He smashed a three-run homer over the 30-foot-high leftfield fence to tie the game.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh, when Charlotte's Edgar Renteria banged a one-out double to left-center off Norfolk reliever Mark Lee.

Shane Halter pinch-hit for Jason Robertson, and hit a hard line drive toward leftfield. Flora came sprinting after it, at the last second diving after the ball and snagging it in his glove

But when Flora hit the ground, the ball popped out.

``That,'' said Norfolk manager Bobby Valentine, ``was almost a great catch.''

Had Flora caught it, the teams might still be playing. Instead, runners wound up on first and third. Then pinch-hitter Lou Lucca's sacrifice fly brought Renteria in with the run that made the difference.

And now the Tides, who got off to such a fast start, lug a two-game losing streak into a week of road games at Ottawa and Syracuse.

``The team is playing good baseball,'' said Valentine as he polished off a pre-flight chicken dinner. ``We just missed today. We had a couple of opportunities.''

The Tides almost untied it in the seventh, loading the bases with one out and Flora at the plate.

But this time, reliever Miguel Batista got Flora to bounce into a third-to-first double play to end the inning.

Valentine wasn't disturbed, saying, ``I liked the way our guys came back.'' ILLUSTRATION: BOXSCORE

STANDINGS

[For a copy of the charts, see microfilm for this date.]

by CNB