Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 22, 1993 TAG: 9308220170
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When they're out of it, they do a good job of pretending they're ignorant of the fact.
The Kinston Indians were beyond smoke-signal range with a 13-run lead in the seventh inning Saturday night, but the Bucs gave 1,892 Municipal Field customers reason to stay awake. The Bucs scored six runs in the seventh and one in the eighth, which was enough to irritate the Indians but not enough to make any difference in the outcome, a 17-10 Kinston victory.
The Indians (32-25), who are in a Southern Division second-half title race that Salem (24-33) long ago bowed out of, maintained their one-game advantage over second-place Winston-Salem.
As for the Bucs, they were spared additional discomfort when Kinston's Pat Maxwell was unable to stroke a sixth hit (he finished with five), Tony Mitchell was prevented from hitting for the cycle (he was a home run shy) and the Indians Dickie Brown was denied a perfect game when Angelo Encarnacion singled with two out in the third.
The Indians hardly were in a position to sweat the details.
"Just when you think you've seen it all in this game, you're humbled when something else comes along that you've never seen," Kinston manager Dave Keller said. "When teams get on a roll hitting and scoring runs, there's just no explaining it, and that's true from the big leagues right on down."
On a roll? The Indians were just so many monster trucks in this affair. Kinston had 19 hits, including four doubles, a triple and a homer. Maxwell scored thrice, as did John Cotton at the top of the order. Pork Chop Pough and Ray Harvey had four RBI each.
Salem starter Eric Parkinson and successor Troy Mooney were whacked around to the tune of 17 hits and 16 runs. Dennis Konuszewski restored a semblance of order in the last two innings.
It might have been a different game had not a Chance Sanford error on an apparent double-play ball in the fifth not opened the door for a six-run inning. Might have been, but maybe not.
\ BUCSHOTS: Kevin Polcovich extended his hitting streak to 12 games with a single in the fourth inning. . . . Little made a move many might not have expected when he pinch hit sub-.200 hitter Marcus Hanel for slugger Mike Brown (19 home runs, 61 RBI) in the seventh. Hanel promptly kept the rally going with an RBI double down the right-field line.
\ see microfilm for box score
Keywords:
BASEBALL
by CNB