DATE: Monday, July 14, 1997                 TAG: 9707140155

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C6   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   54 lines

2-RUN RALLY IN 9TH WINS IT FOR TIDES

Benny Agbayani singled a grounder through the left side of a drawn-in infield in the ninth inning to cap a two-run rally as the Norfolk Tides beat the Pawtucket Red Sox 4-3 Sunday at Harbor Park.

The Tides then let out a collective sigh of relief.

Had they dropped a third consecutive one-run game, today's off day might have been difficult to deal with.

``Especially the way they've come,'' said Agbayani, speaking of previous losses in which the Tides scored three runs in the ninth both times, only to come up one run short on Friday and lose in extra innings on Saturday. ``We're a `Never Say Die' bunch. We've got good chemistry.''

What the Tides didn't have in the previous two games - timely breaks - came this time in a tidal wave.

After Scott McClain flew out to start the Tides' ninth, Mike Moore blooped a single to left that fell between Pawtucket shortstop Lou Merloni and leftfielder Jose Malave.

Pinch-hitter Steve Bieser then fell behind 0-2 against PawSox reliever Tim Cain, who had come on to start the seventh and cruised through the eighth. But Bieser worked a walk.

Jason Hardtke, who had struck out against Cain in the seventh with Moore on third, fell behind 0-2 again, then watched a ball just of the plate before drilling a single up the middle to score Moore.

``He threw me two backdoor sliders and an inside slider to strike me out,'' Hardtke said. ``I had to respect it, but I was still looking fastball and I'm glad I was.''

The PawSox then brought in Toby Borland, who'd picked up the win Friday and a save Saturday.

Shawn Gilbert also fell behind 0-2, but chopped a high bouncer to Merloni, who couldn't cleanly glove it. The infield single loaded the bases for Agbayani, who had a 3-1 count when his hit found the hole.

The Tides other two runs came in the second when Geisler singled to left with one out, McClain drilled his first triple of the season to the gap in right and Alberto Castillo singled to right with two out.

Pawtucket got two in the third when Trot Nixon singled, Andy Abad was hit by a pitch, Malave doubled off the fence in left and Adam Hyzdu followed with a sacrifice fly to right. The PawSox then took a 3-2 lead in the fourth when Gary Bennett led off with a home run to left.

Jimmy Myers relieved Tides starter Barry Manuel in the fifth with a runner on first and a 2-1 count on Malave. Myers got Malave to fly out and ended up pitching three timely scoreless innings. Then sidearmer Jim Doughtery threw two perfect innings to up his record to 9-0, with all the wins coming out of the bullpen.

``It hasn't been an easy week or so for us,'' said Tides manager Rick Dempsey. ``We've had bad luck and line-drive outs that have cost us some big innings. But with all our problems lately, we've delivered in the ninth innings. And that's a great sign.''

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu