THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 1, 1996 TAG: 9609010246
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 60 lines
Big, bold and beautiful described the Norfolk Tides' 4-3 victory over the Richmond Braves Saturday night.
The Tides played in front of the largest crowd in Harbor Park history with over 2,000 standing-room-only fans among the announced crowd of 14,263.
Tides second baseman Jason Hardtke boldly went where few have gone before, clobbering a two-run sixth-inning home run that took three hops to land in the Elizabeth River some 500 feet from home plate.
And an eye-popping fireworks display - which will be repeated after Monday night's regular-season finale - ended the evening's festivities.
Hardtke's ninth homer of the season highlighted a four-run inning.
Benny Agbayani started the Tides' half of the sixth with a one-out bloop single to center. Hardtke then crushed a John Dettmer offering that just missed the scoreboard in right.
``We had a hit-and-run on with a 1-1 count, so I had no choice, I was swinging regardless,'' said Hardtke. ``It definitely felt good.''
Hardtke, who came out of a 2-for-26 slump, went 2 for 3 to up his season's average to .304.
``He hadn't been happy with his offense the last three days,'' Tides manager Bruce Benedict said. ``But we had him out for a little extra work before the game. This has to ease his mind a little bit. And it's a good time for him to get back on a roll.''
The Tides weren't done as Joel Chimelis singled to right and Chris Howard followed with a run-scoring double to straightaway center.
Tides pitcher Shannon Withem followed with a RBI single up the middle, giving Norfolk a 4-1 lead.
Richmond had scratched out an unearned run in the top of the sixth when Pablo Martinez reached on a drag bunt with one out, went to second on a groundout by Pedro Swann, then stole third and scored when Howard's throw bounced into leftfield.
The Braves came back with two more in the seventh. Kevin Grijak singled to right with one out and, after Esteban Beltre walked, Withem was pulled in favor of Jim McCready.
In 6 1/3 innings, Withem (3-3) allowed five hits, walked one and matched his season-high in strikeouts for the Tides with eight while winning his third consecutive start.
Called up from Double-A Binghamton five weeks ago, Withem improved his chances of starting Game 5 of the Tides' upcoming playoffs series against Columbus, should the series go that far.
Benedict has stated that Game 1 pitcher Rick Reed will go again in Game 5 if his pitch count and recovery time between starts is reasonable.
``After these last three starts, Shannon Withem is still in the mix,'' Benedict said.
McCready retired Lou Benbow on a bouncer to second as the runners moved up and Darren Cox followed with a two-run single to right.
After Pedro Martinez retired the side in the eighth, Mike Welch pitched a perfect ninth for his first save. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MIKE HEFFNER/The Virginian-Pilot
Shannon Withem won his third straight start to even his record at
3-3, allowing five hits, walking one and striking out eight. by CNB