DATE: Saturday, August 16, 1997             TAG: 9708160591

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY CLYDE HUGHES, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: MAUMEE, OHIO                      LENGTH:   54 lines

PETAGINE TIES CLUB RECORD IN TIDES' LOSING EFFORT PAIR OF HRS GIVES HIM 29, MATCHES TIDES' MARK SET BY RANDY MILLIGAN

Ned Skeldon Stadium was very friendly to the Norfolk Tides the last time they visited. But not this time.

Norfolk's recent offensive woes continued Friday night as the Tides managed seven hits in a 7-2 loss to Toledo.

The game broke a three-game win streak the Tides held against the Mud Hens on Toledo's home turf, and also continued a slide in which Norfolk has lost three straight and seven of its last eight.

Norfolk was batting .177 over the last seven games as a team and the problems continued to mount. Beyond Roberto Petagine's two home runs, which give him 29 for the season and tie him for the franchise's Triple-A record with Randy Milligan set in 1987, the Tides couldn't string together the big hits needed.

Despite the loss, Norfolk remains one game up on Columbus in the IL West with 16 games left on the schedule. Toledo managed to creep with 3 1/2 games of the Tides and 2 1/2 games from a playoff spot.

The Mud Hens received a big break in the second inning that resulted in four runs off starter Jeff Tam. Tim Hyers and Ira Smith both reached on infield singles.

Ray Holbert hit a grounder down the line to third baseman Scott McClain who appeared to beat Hyers to third base for the force.

Hyers was ruled safe to load the bases and Marcus Jensen followed with a bag-clearing double to the gap in left. Kimera Bartee slapped a single to right to plate Jensen.

``I don't think (umpire Brian Gibbons) had a good angle and didn't have as good a look as he needed to,'' Norfolk manager Rick Dempsey said. ``He made the call tougher than it should have been. But even with that call, you still have to score runs.

``You need to score more than one or two runs this time in the season to win games. We just didn't get it done.''

Tam (6-4), who Dempsey said had finished after the fifth inning, was booted from the game by Gibbons during Norfolk's at-bat in the sixth.

He gave up five runs on seven hits over the five innings.

``He should have been out of (the second inning) without any runs,'' Dempsey said. ``But he still made some mistakes and could have pitched better.''

One of those mistakes was a pitch to Bubba Trammell, who hit his 26th home run of the year in the third inning to boost the Mud Hens' lead to 5-0.

Petagine matched Trammell's home run in the fourth with a blast to right field off of Toledo starter Ramon Fermin.

He added another one homer off reliever John Rosengren in the top of the ninth to cut Toledo's lead to 7-2. Wes Chamberlain added a two-out single before Michael Moore drove a Rosengren pitch deep to centerfield before Bartee snatched the ball near the top of the fence, preventing a home run and ending the game.

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