DATE: Thursday, May 15, 1997                TAG: 9705150664

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: RICHMOND                          LENGTH:   39 lines

THREE HOME RUNS MORE THAN ENOUGH FOR TIDES

The last 10 years haven't produced many Tides long-ball hitters.

Take away Randy Milligan's 29 home runs in 1987 and Butch Huskey's 28 three years ago and no other Tide has hit more than 17 in the last decade.

But that might be about to change.

Scott McClain hit his ninth of the season Wednesday night and Roberto Petagine hit two solo shots to up his season's total to eight as Norfolk downed the Richmond Braves 6-3 at The Diamond.

``Roberto and myself haven't been missing those good pitches when we get 'em,'' said McClain, who has hit five homers in the Tides' last six games. ``We've got a couple other guys on this team who can take it out too. And when you know you can hit it out at any time, that puts pressure on the other team.''

McClain's solo shot in the third moved him into a tie for second in the International League with Rochester's Danny Clyburn. Petagine led off the fourth with a solo shot of his own to right-center, then clobbered a 430-foot shot that just missed the lights in rightfield in the Tides' three-run eighth.

Petagine still considers himself more of a contact hitter. But even he was impressed by his second homer.

``That one tried to get back to Norfolk,'' Petagine said. ``When we swing the bat like we're doing, we have a lot of chances. But I'm still just a line-drive hitter. Sometimes those line drives get up.''

Norfolk (22-17) added a run in the fifth when Charlie Greene led off with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by starting pitcher Brian Bohanon and scored on a two-out single to center by Shawn Gilbert.

The Tides bumped their lead to 6-2 in the eighth, stinging reliever Mike Dyer for five hits and three runs in two-thirds of an inning. Gilbert singled, Benny Agbayani followed with a run-scoring single but was caught between first and second trying to take an extra base, Petagine homered, Phil Geisler doubled to center and McClain drove him in with a single to left.

Jeff Tam earned his fourth save with four innings of two-hit ball.

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