DATE: Friday, April 18, 1997                TAG: 9704180844

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C7   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE NEWMAN, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: OTTAWA                            LENGTH:   44 lines

TIDES PUT A CHILL IN OTTAWA LYNX

They still didn't come.

On baseball night in a playoff-hopping hockey town, one of the smallest crowds in Ottawa Lynx history saw the Norfolk Tides break open a tight game to improve their second-place record.

The Tides' six-run seventh inning - triggered by three walks and Phil Geisler's two-run single in a rare pinch-hit role in unseasonably cold weather - turned a tie game into a 9-3 rout.

Even an adjusted start time to 4:35 p.m., from 7:05, didn't improve the temperature or the attendance for the International League contest. Fewer than 300 fans were in the seats for a windy 39-degree start. Announced paid attendance was 2,263. Many stayed away as the city readied itself for Thursday's telecast of the Ottawa Senators' first National Hockey League playoff game since the 1930s.

``It was cold,'' said Geisler, who last played in weather this cold during 1992 Florida A-ball.

``It's kind of disappointing not playing in front of people, but what's more disappointing is that you can't feel your hands and feet.''

Even the absence of batting practice for two days didn't hurt the Tides, who banged out 13 hits, including an RBI single for struggling Roberto Petagine in the Tides' two-run fifth to open the scoring.

The pitching was a lot warmer in the early going as Tides starter Cory Lidle and Lynx lefty Neil Weber pitched scoreless ball for four innings.

``Even in the PCL we didn't have cold weather like this. This is pretty bad,'' said Tides manager Rick Dempsey, whose starter walked two in the first while struggling to find the strike zone.

The game broke open in the seventh after Benny Agbayani led off with a single and Petagine walked, only to be picked off first.

Ottawa's left-handed reliever Chuck Ricci, obtained earlier in the week from the Pacific Coast League's Edmonton Trappers, still got in trouble by walking three straight and throwing a passed ball.

Scott McClain's bases-loaded sinking liner into centerfield, which chased Ricci, scored Abgayani for a 4-2 advantage and the start of the Tides' six-run outburst.

The four-game series resumes today with righthander Shannon Withem (1-1, 3.97) facing Lynx southpaw Carlos Puldio (0-0, 5.79).

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