DATE: Sunday, April 20, 1997                TAG: 9704200182

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY STEVE NEWMAN, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: OTTAWA                            LENGTH:   61 lines

TIDES AND OTTAWA SPLIT DOUBLEHEADER OTTAWA'S SOLID AND THEN WILD PITCHING DECIDES BOTH GAMES; PULSIPHER TAKES LOSS.

Reliever Derek Aucoin was downright unhittable and inhospitable, but the Norfolk Tides didn't mind a bit.

The Tides weren't hitting, after going a fourth straight day without batting practice, but they were getting hit. They took advantage of the 6-foot-7 pitcher's fifth-inning wildness en route to a 3-1 victory and a split of an International League doubleheader Saturday.

Out while working on mechanical problems, Aucoin pitched for the first time this season, hitting three batters and walking another in the Tides' two-run fifth, for a 2-1 lead.

Aucoin hit Chris Saunders in the helmet with his second pitch of the season, then hit Shawn Gilbert with his fifth offering. A walk to Luis Lopez and another hit batsman, for a Charlie Greene RBI, tied the score 1-1 before Aucoin departed.

``I got a little too fast on my delivery,'' said Aucoin, who'd never hit so many batters in one inning.

The next batter, Phil Geisler, reached base for the second time in two pinch-hit appearances in this series, with a RBI fielder's choice. Geisler also picked up only the second of two Norfolk hits with a two-out double in the seventh.

``I can't remember the last time any team got three batters dinged in one inning (even) in the big leagues,'' said Norfolk manager Rick Dempsey.

``We were just trying to get a run and tie up the game and ended up getting two.''

Shawn Gilbert provided a Norfolk insurance run in the seventh by walking, stealing second, taking third on an error, and stealing home.

Ottawa had taken a 1-0 lead in the second frame with Kerry Valrie's first homer of the season, a long bash over the left-field wall off Tides starter Shannon Withem, who was steady in striking out four and allowing four hits over four innings.

By losing the first half of the twinbill 3-1, for the third time this season the Tides failed to extend a three-game winning streak to four games.

The first game started 85 minutes late, due to wet grounds from snow and rain on Friday and Saturday, but the starters were still effective.

A pitching duel between Bill Pulsipher, on a major-league rehab assignment, and Lynx righthander Jose Paniagua lasted into the fourth inning when Ottawa scored all three of its runs.

Third baseman Jose Vidro, who was hitting .421 entering the game, led off with one of their four singles in the inning.

Ottawa ended up batting through the order as Rico Rossy belted a one-out, two-run single high off the leftfield wall for a 2-0 Lynx lead.

Piniagua - who tossed a tidy three-hitter over the full seven innings - sacrificed the runners to second and third. After a Pulsipher walk to Jon Saffer to load the bases, Geoff Blum rapped a two-out single as Pulsipher's ERA improved marginally in a losing cause to 6.91.

Geisler broke Piniagua's bid for a no-hitter with a double to the centerfield wall to lead off the fifth, but was stranded at third when Saunders, batting for Pulsipher, grounded out.

The finale of the four-game series starts at 2:05 this afternoon, with righthanders Tavo Alvarez (0-1, 12.27) for Ottawa and Juan Acevedo (2-0, 2.75) for Norfolk.

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