THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 25, 1996 TAG: 9605250726
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: 40 lines
If he keeps this up, Gary Thurman is going to need a nickname.
Given the way he's been finishing off opponents lately, ``The Thurminator'' might not be a bad candidate.
On Friday night, for the fourth night in row, the supposedly light-hitting Thurman won a game for the Norfolk Tides. His three-run home run in the 8th inning lifted Norfolk to a 5-3 win over Richmond in front of 10,470 at The Diamond. The Tides (25-20) have won four in a row, equaling their best streak of the season.
Thurman, who had averaged 2.8 home runs per year in 13 professional seasons, has hit four home runs in the last three games, and three in the last two games.
``I guess I won't call it luck now, after a few days in a row,'' Thurman said. ``I'm just taking good swings. Balls are just jumping off my bat.''
Tides manager Bobby Valentine grinned and called Thurman ``Our secret weapon.
``They fell into our trap,'' Valentine said.
The ``trap'' was set when the Tides, trailing 3-2, got two runners on with one out in the eighth. Thurman, who had gone 1 for 4 with two strikeouts, sent a 2-0 pitch from Rod Nichols over the fence in left.
The blow took the steam out of Richmond, which was already being shut down by the combined relief efforts of Brian Bark and Mark Lee. The pair combined to pitch 3 1/3 perfect innings. Rick Trlicek and Derek Wallace finished the job, throwing one scoreless inning each.
``Bark set the pace and they all did the job,'' Valentine said. ``We had really wanted our starter to go a little longer.''
Starter Juan Acevedo was lifted with two outs in the fourth, after walking five and throwing 88 pitches. He had walked the bases loaded for reliever Bark, who struck out Pedro Swann to get Norfolk out of the inning.
Richmond starter Chad Fox was also all over the plate, walking three in four innings, on 91 pitches. Fox was plunked on the shoulder by Acevedo in fourth. Although he finished the inning on the basepaths he didn't return to pitch. by CNB