DATE: Monday, June 16, 1997                 TAG: 9706160147

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LOUIS DAIGNAULTS, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: OTTAWA                            LENGTH:   50 lines

CRAWFORD LEADS TIDES TO FIFTH STRAIGHT WIN

A solid outing by lefthander Joe Crawford on Sunday helped the Norfolk Tides seal a 3-1 victory and a series sweep over the struggling Ottawa Lynx.

It was a season-high fifth straight win for the first-place Tides (42-26). Norfolk had won four straight four times this season.

For the Lynx (20-43), it was the sixth loss in seven games against the Tides this season.

Crawford (6-2) retired the first 13 Lynx batters before surrendering a one-out single to Brad Seitzer in the fifth inning. He allowed one run on four hits, struck out three and walked three over 7 1/3 innings. It matched his second-longest outing of the season.

``We'd come off a couple of high-scoring games and it's always hard to sweep, so I figured I was in for a low-scoring, tight battle,'' said Crawford, who pitched 8 1/3 innings in his season-opening start for the Tides on April 16.

``Before the game, warming up, I felt good. And it carried over. I'm starting to wonder, though, if I'll ever get past 7 1/3 again this year.''

Crawford threw a no-hitter last season in a Double-A game, but he wasn't thinking about repeating it until a fan yelled out, ``Hey, you got a no-hitter,'' from the stands with Seitzer at the plate in the fifth.

``I guess that affected my concentration, because really you don't think about no-hitter that early in the game,'' Crawford said.

Everett Stull (3-4) provided the Lynx with his second consecutive strong performance. He pitched seven innings, allowing six hits and three runs - two in the second inning.

Roberto Petagine rocked Stull with a tape-measure home run, his 16th this season. Wes Chamberlain followed with single to centerfield and Scott McClain singled to left. McClain's hit was bobbled by Lynx leftfielder Jon Saffer, allowing Chamberlain to score.

Petagine didn't stand at the plate to admire his mammoth shot. In fact, he never saw how far it went and didn't seem to care.

``As soon as I hit it, I knew it was gone,'' said Petagine who is on a 10-game hitting streak. ``He threw me a good fastball. Everyone told me afterwards it was a monster.''

The Tides added an insurance run in the sixth inning when Todd Pratt walked and reached second on a wild pitch. After two outs, McClain doubled to left, scoring Pratt.

The Lynx scored its only run in the sixth inning. Crawford walked Stull and ex-Tide Rico Rossy followed with a double. Stull scored on Steve Pegue's sacrifice fly to the centerfield warning track.

Mike Welch pitched the ninth for his 12th save. The Tides return home tonight to open a four-game series against Rochester.

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