ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607220077
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RALPH BERRIER JR. STAFF WRITER
Four hours of squatting can really get to a guy. Ask Ramy Brooks.
``I was tired of catching, man,'' said Brooks, who did something to make sure the 13th inning would be his final one behind the plate Saturday night for the Wilmington Blue Rocks.
Brooks' long leadoff home run in the top of the 13th helped vault the Blue Rocks to an 11-9 victory over the Salem Avalanche in a Carolina League baseball game at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium.
The game began with a season-high crowd of 4,850 settling into their seats and ended 4 hours, 8 minutes later when Blue Rocks reliever Marc Phillips retired the Avalanche in order in the bottom of the 13th.
In between, there were 34 hits, 20 runs, 10 pitchers, six errors (five by Salem), four lead changes and the second ninth-inning rally in as many nights.
Twenty-four hours after Salem (11-16 in the second half) scored three runs in the bottom of the ninth to nip the Blue Rocks 5-4, Northern Division-leading Wilmington rallied from a two-run deficit with two runs in the top of the ninth to force extra innings.
``It was a good game, but a tough loss,'' said Bill McGuire, Salem's manager. ``We had it under control and let it go. We did some good comebackin', then they came back. We've both done our fair share of that the last two nights.''
Brooks turned on a 1-0 fastball from Salem reliever Jeff Sobkoviak (5-4) and sent it over the left-center field wall to break a 9-9 tie.
Sobkoviak ``led me off with a with a slider for a ball,'' Brooks said. ``I pretty much knew he was coming back with a fastball. He got it up and I got it up, also.''
Wilmington (16-11) acquired insurance when Brian Teeters tripled and scored on Eduardo Cedeno's double to make it 11-9.
Phillips (2-0) pitched two innings of scoreless relief to earn the victory.
It was made possible when the Blue Rocks scored twice off Salem reliever Bill Eden in the ninth. With a 9-7 lead, Eden walked Teeters to open the inning, but fanned Danville native Al Shirley and Cedeno.
Wilmington leadoff man Sergio Nunez singled home Teeters, who had moved to second on a wild pitch. Nunez promptly stole his fourth base of the night before scoring the tying run on Jimmie Byington's triple into the right-center field gap.
``It's tough to lose with two in the ninth like that, but it happens,'' McGuire said.
Salem tied it at 7 when John Giudice's double off Wilmington reliever Brian Wolff scored Garrett Neubart, who had opened the inning by being hit with a pitch. Giudice was thrown out at third when Nate Holdren grounded to Cedeno at short, but Holdren eventually scored on Tal Light's double to make it 8-7. It was one of Light's three hits and his second double.
The Avalanche added a run with a Neubart RBI single to make it 9-7 in the eighth, but the Blue Rocks weren't done.
Wilmington regained the lead with two runs off reliever Matt Pool in the seventh. Brooks doubled and scored when Donovan Delaney tripled. Julio Montilla followed with a run-scoring single to make it 7-6, Wilmington.
Salem starter Mike Vavrek gave up three runs, three hits and two walks in the fourth when Wilmington increased its lead to 5-1. Byington had an RBI single and Carlos Mendez knocked in two with a bloop single.
Salem plated five in the fourth to take a 6-5 lead. After Giudice was hit by a Matt Saier pitch with one out, Holdren, Light, Chad Gambill and Mike Higgins each singled. Giudice scored when Saier made a wild throw on a relay from the outfield after Holdren's hit, Light knocked in Holdren and later scored by stealing home on the front end of a double-steal. Higgins and Elvis Pena each had RBI hits.
SNOWBALLS: When Pena beat out an infield single in the third, it was only his seventh hit in his past 44 at-bats. ... Salem starting pitchers have worked past the fifth inning once in the past 10 games.
LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines KEYWORDS: BASEBALLby CNB