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

DATE: Tuesday, August 20, 1996              TAG: 9608210634
SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA 
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER 
DATELINE: MANTEO                            LENGTH:   54 lines

NEDERLAND'S HOPE DASHED EARLY IN BABE RUTH LOSS TO OMAHA

Omaha, Neb. roared back from a 2-0 first inning deficit Monday night to defeat Nederland, Texas 8-2 in the Babe Ruth 16-18 World Series.

Chris Kankovsky, Eric Brown, Josh Hesse and John Dillingham drove in two runs each to lead the Midwest Plains regional champs. Omaha staved off elimination in the two-and-out tournament. Nederland's dream of a World Series title came to an end with the loss.

Omaha exploded for three runs in the third and four more in the fourth to erase the early Nederland lead, and put the game away.

In the third, and trailing 2-1, Omaha pitcher Tony Beveridge led off with a single, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Hesse then singled to knot the game at 2-2. Brown and Kankovsky followed with back-to-back RBI doubles, to give Omaha a 4-2 lead.

In the fourth, Omaha sent nine batters to the plate, scoring four runs on three hits. The big blow came when Dillingham hit a seeing-eye single past the drawn-in Nederland infield to bring in two runs. Hesse and Brown also had RBI's in the inning.

The Nebraska club ripped through four Nederland pitchers, knocking starter Joey Babineaux out of the game after 2 2/3 innings. Relievers Cory Walters, T.J. Donnell and Brian Sanches tried but failed to cool the blazing Plains hitters without success.

Nederland came out swinging in the top of the first. Jeremy Leidensdorf drew a leadoff walk. Brian Sanches, and Ryan LeVergne slapped back-to-back base hits to load the bases. Wesley Cooksey then doubled down the left field line to drive home Leidensdorf and Sanches. LaVergne was thrown out sliding into third on the play. Beveridge got Brock Richardson to pop out, and forced Craig Darder to ground out to end the inning.

``The play at third was the biggest play of the game,'' said Omaha Manager Ron Johnette.``That ended the inning and held them to only two runs. We didn't panic. It's a seven-inning game, and we have a good club. (Nederland) had a win last night, and they had some momentum.''

Johnette credited Beveridge for rebounding after a rocky start. Beveridge is a 16-year-old junior at Ralston High in Omaha.

``Tony's a good pitcher,'' Johnette said. ``He just went to work with the off-speed stuff.''

But after that, Beveridge allowed only two hits and four base runners the rest of the way. He got defensive help from leftfielder Dillingham, who gunned down two Nederland runners on great throws to third.

Nederland's final threat came in the fifth with one out and runners on second and third. Beveridge fanned Sanches, and got LaVergne to ground to short.

The Omaha hurler also chipped in offensively with two hits.

Omaha will next play at 8 p.m. Wednesday against the loser of tonight's Iron Area, N.J.-Ansonia, Conn. game.

``We're going to practice and let the kids see some of the sights,'' Johnette said. ``We know we're going to face a good team. But hopefully we'll have some momentum.'' by CNB