
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 9, 1995                   TAG: 9506290110
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

A TOUGH LOSS FOR AVALANCHE

Sage baseball advice holds that the optimum way to deal with a difficult defeat is to forget it and go on to the next game.

Some games you don't forget, though.

One such likely insomnia source may be the Kinston Indians' 8-5 10-inning victory over the Salem Avalanche on Thursday night in front of a Municipal Field crowd of 934.

``They tried to give us the game and we wouldn't take it,'' said Salem hitting coach Tony Torchia.

Kinston overcame four errors, nine men left on base, 10 strikeouts, seven Salem walks, and a passed ball to beat the Avalanche for the 10th-straight time.

As a result, the Indians moved 20 games over .500 (40-20) and clinched the first-half championship of the Carolina League's Southern Division. The combination of the Kinston victory and a 3-1 loss by Winston-Salem to Frederick did the job,

``There wasn't anything easy about that one,'' Kinston manager Gordy MacKenzie said of his team's adventures in Salem.

Tough game all the way around, especially for the Avalanche. After rallying to tie the score at 5 in the bottom of the ninth, the Avalanche left three on after loading the bases with no outs. Add one more man marooned in the 10th and that made it 12 for the game.

``There are a lot of sayings in baseball, but one of them is it's not how you hit it, but when you hit it,'' Torchia said. ``Tonight we could have won that game any number of times.''

Another old saying is that teams that are playing well find ways to win.

``Oh, yeah,'' said Kinston reliever Dan Graves. ``We've come back so many times late in the game this year. It really gives the pitchers confidence.''

Kinston's confidence couldn't have been plentiful after Salem began the 10th with an error by shortstop Enrique Wilson that allowed Chris Sexton to reach base. That was followed by a Vicente Garcia single and an intentional walk to Brian Culp, the guy who had cut the Avalanche's deficit to one run with a solo homer to lead off the eighth. Another Wilson error brought in a run.

The game came apart for Salem in the 10th, when the Indians scored three. The big bop was Einar Diaz's first home run of the season, a two-run shot with no outs.

see microfilm for box score

by CNB