THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, June 27, 1996               TAG: 9606270546
SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY TOM LEO, CORRESPONDENT 
DATELINE: SYRACUSE, N.Y.                    LENGTH:   44 lines

SYRACUSE'S RAMOS HAS THE TIDES' NUMBER HIS RBI DOUBLE SPARKS A 5-RUN RALLY AS THE CHIEFS AVOID A 3-GAME SWEEP.

While the rest of the International League struggles against Norfolk pitching, John Ramos must be wondering what all the fuss is about.

Ramos, the Syracuse first baseman, is hitting .208 against the rest of the league. He's batting .324 against the Tides, with 11 hits in 34 at-bats.

Ramos' RBI double in the seventh inning against Norfolk reliever Joe Ausanio broke a 3-3 tie and rallied the Chiefs to an 8-3 victory over Norfolk on Wednesday night before a paid crowd of 3,516 at MacArthur Stadium.

With the victory, the Chiefs avoided a three-game sweep by the Tides, who had won the first two games of the three-game series. Norfolk remains in first-place in the IL West Division with a 45-31 record. Syracuse is 37-36.

``This was a big, big win. Huge,'' Ramos said. ``We wanted to end the homestand on a high note. Norfolk is a tough team to beat. Basically, it was a game where the team that made the fewest mistakes was going to win.''

Syracuse took a 2-0 lead in the second inning off Tides starter Joe Crawford with the help of two outfield errors.

Rich Rowland ripped a one-out double. Sharnol Adriana singled to left and Tides leftfielder Benny Agbayani booted the ball, which allowed Rowland to score and Adriana to take second. Then, Miguel Cairo's single was misplayed for an error by rightfielder Kevin Roberson, allowing Adriana to score.

Norfolk got a run back in the fourth off Syracuse starter Travis Baptist with the help of a fielding mistake by the Chiefs.

Roberto Petagine singled, advanced to second when second baseman Felipe Crespo couldn't pick up Agbayani's slow roller to second and later scored on Brian Daubach's single to left.

Syracuse made it 3-1 in the fourth on three consecutive singles. Norfolk tied it with two runs in the fifth, all on singles.

Then came Syracuse's five-run seventh, which also include Adriana's bases-loaded, two-run double off reliever Mark Lee that made the score 6-3.

But Norfolk still stranded 13 runners, eight of them were in scoring position.

``We just never really could get the big hit,'' Tides manager Bobby Valentine said. ``We just didn't hit when we got guys on base. It happens.''

Jim Czajkowski (3-1) got the win, pitching 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. by CNB