Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, August 13, 1993 TAG: 9308130200
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Not only did the Bucs have to endure another successful Lynchburg Red Sox rally - the third in four nights - but then they had to sit glumly as a thunderstorm terminated the Carolina League game with Lynchburg up 5-3 after seven innings at Salem Municipal Field.
Only a handful were left from an audience of 1,169 at the end of a 50-minute delay.
Frustration with no chance for redemption. The fates are cruel, but so has this season been.
Salem lost its third consecutive game and has lost nine of 12.
The Bucs led 3-1 and then 3-2 before long balls began descending off the Lynchburg bats. John Eierman smacked a two-out, two-run homer in the fifth to put the Red Sox ahead, and J.J. Johnson slammed an 0-2 pitch over the wall in left in the seventh to complete the damage.
Salem went in order in the seventh, and umpire Mike Russell threw up his hands as the rain began to pelt in earnest.
"You know, it wasn't as though a lot happened in that game," Salem pitching coach Dave Rajsich said. "There were no exciting plays, just a lot of routine stuff, a couple of homers, and then the game is over."
Bucs right-hander Doug Harrah, for whom a 5-0 start has come to be 5-5, gave up all five of the runs on 10 hits. He started on a grim note when he hit Steve Rodriguez with the first pitch of the game, but he pulled himself together the rest of the way.
"He kept us in the game," Rajsich said. "You're going to have to live with giving up some home runs and a couple of cheap runs in this park. He really didn't pitch that badly."
Salem didn't have much luck with Lynchburg pitcher Bret Donovan, who gave up three runs in the third inning but not much else. Gary Painter pitched the last 1 1/3 innings to record his second save.
The Bucs' highlights began with a one-out home run by leadoff man Ramon Espinosa, his fifth. Kevin Polcovich followed with a single and made his way home after Jon Farrell's double and Marty Neff's sacrifice fly. Mike Brown - who would go 3-for-3 and then don a bubble gum pail for a hat and entertain some children in the rain during the delay - then delivered Farrell with a double.
Salem had two hits the rest of the way.
\ BUCSHOTS: Second baseman Alan Purdy, the mystery replacement from Class AA Carolina for injured Chance Sanford (the Bucs didn't know who they'd get until shortly before he arrived) doubled in his last at-bat and went 1-for-3. . . . Mark Mesewicz pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh to hold the Red Sox to one run. . . . Eierman went 3-for-3 with a walk. . . . Salem heads for Durham for three games, then has a day off before three games at Winston-Salem. \
see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB