THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, August 23, 1996 TAG: 9608230102
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PAUL SOUTH, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: 77 lines
Years from now, no matter the outcome of the 1996 Babe Ruth World the fans in Coy Tillett Sr. Memorial Field will remember where they were at 11:17 p.m., Aug. 21, 1996.
At that moment, Omaha's Chris Kankousky lifted a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to score John Dillingham and give his team a heart-stopping 7-6 victory over Ansonia, Conn.
The triumph will be known forever to Babe Ruth fans as ``The Comeback.''
Trailing 6-0 in the bottom of the 7th inning, the Nebraskans erupted to tie the score and then won it two innings later. The victory kept alive Omaha's title hopes.
And it established a World Series record for one-run decisions. It was the seventh since the tournament began Saturday.
Kankousky got his chance to be a hero after Ansonia reliever Corey Somerville intentionally walked Eric Brown to load the bases.
``It kind of made me mad,'' Kankousky said. ``I just wanted to get the ball in the air to get him home.''
Kankousky's one-out spank was caught by Ansonia's Fran DeGennaro but his throw was wild and Dillingham danced across home plate, hands in the air.
``We've never had a comeback like this in a regular season game,'' Kankousky said, ``much less something in a World Series. This is great.''
Ansonia hurler Geoff White was cruising toward a shutout when Ansonia's World Series hopes were demolished, one Omaha hit at a time.
The rally began when Josh Hesse doubled. A single by Brown and a Kankousky walk filled the bases. White was then pulled for reliever Steve Stonoha.
Troy Hackendahl welcomed Stonoha with a double scoring two runs, shattering the shutout.
Then pinch hitter Anthony Blue walked to load the bases again. After Brant Vlieger was called out on strikes, Tom Ogee drew a walk to score Kankousky to make it 6-3.
Then Dillingham got a break when his steaming grounder skittered between Brian Woods' legs to score Hackendahl and Blue, to cut the deficit to 6-5. Dillingham took second on the throw home. Tony Beveridge, the ninth hitter of the inning, flied to right for the second out.
Hesse - who had three hits - singled home for the tying run. Brown grounded out to second to end the rally.
Ansonia threatened in the eighth but failed to score, and the Connecticut club went quietly in order in the ninth.
In the Omaha ninth, Dillingham led off with a walk. Beveridge then struck out. Dillingham then got caught in a rundown attempting to steal, but an error by Jason Lydem left him safe at second. Hesse struck again with a single. And Brown was intentionally walked, setting the stage for Kankousky's game-winning heroics.
Omaha's rally shattered six innings of sparkling work by White, who allowed only four hits in his first five innings.
Ansonia got on the board in their half of the first. With one out, Ben Mikula doubled and scored two batters later when Brian Chaplik singled to make it 1-0. Then, with runners at first and third and two outs, Chaplik and Lydem tried the double steal, but Vlieger made a nice play to gun down Lydem at the plate to end the inning.
The Connecticut team added another run in the third. Brian Woods walked and stole second. Then catcher Jeff Gregorio singled to left. Dillingham misplayed the ball, which rolled to the fence, allowing Woods to score. Ansonia led, 2-0.
The Connecticut cushion expanded thanks to a gift run in the fourth. With two outs and runners at second and third, Omaha pitcher Gerremy Goldsberry was charged with a balk. Lydem trotted home to make it 3-0. Omaha committed five errors on the night.
In the sixth, Mikula reached on a fielder's choice, then stole second. He scored when Lydem hit a grounder to Vlieger, who threw wide to first. Two more Omaha errors loaded the bases, and White doubled to the gap in right-center, driving home two runs. Ansonia seemed in command, 6-0.
Then the Hesse double ignited Omaha's record-setting rally.
``We knew when we got down 6-0, we had to have a lot of at-bats,'' Omaha Manager Ron Johnette said. ``The kids just took it one out at a time. We got in a position where we could come back, and Josh got us started.
``Being able to come back is something you have to do at this level. We knew we couldn't get six runs all at one time. We just had to be able to put the ball in play.'' by CNB