The Messenger from Madisonville, Kentucky • 9

Sports The Messenger Madisonville, Thursday May 29, 1980 9 MTTtmilMMIIWI IIIMJIIII Ml New man Thompson pays quick dividend i is. By BARRY WILNER AP Sports Writer Jason Thompson's head was in the clouds. Dickie Thon's bat was on fire. And Pepe Frias' mind certainly wasn't on the game. As a result, the California Angels won for the second straight night at home after 10 consecutive losses at Anaheim Stadium.

Their wild 7-6 decision over the Texas Rangers was built on the bats of two men who weren't with the team until Tuesday and aided immeasurably by Frias' embarrassing mistake afield. Thompson, acquired from the Detroit Tigers in a trade Tuesday, pinch hit a three-run double in the eighth inning to boost the Angels into a 6-4 lead. Thon had five hits on the night, including a single in the eighth which he attempted to stretch into a double and was tagged out hy Frins, the Rangers' shortstop. Then, thinking the inning was over, Frias rolled the ball to the mound. An alert Thompson scooted home with the winning run.

"Alert?" said Thompson. "I'm still in a cloud. So much adrenalin was flowing, I didn't know what I was doing out there. I heard the crowd roaring, but I was concentrating on the pitcher." The hurler was Texas relief ace Sparky Lyle, a left-hander, a breed Thompson hadn't faced the last 10 days he was in Detroit. "Sparky throws 90 percent sliders, but when he ran the count to 3-1 I started thinking more fastball.

Actually, I was just trying to put the bat on the ball," Thompson added. He did, lining it down the right field line for his double. Then came the fifth hit of the night by Thon, just recalled from Salt Lake City of the Pacific Coast League. And Frias' boo-boo. "I saw when he made the tag that he thought the inning was over because he immediately started for their dugout.

When I saw there was nobody where the ball was, I just headed home," Thompson said. Elsewhere, it was Oakland 6, Kansas City Detroit 6, New York Yankees Milwaukee 7, Seattle Minnesota 6, Chicago Cleveland 10, Baltimore and Toronto 4, Boston 1. 'Ayr. Jjfe y0 lkKy I i Lerch wins, now 1-6 By KEN RAPPOPORT APSDOrts Writer iw Randy Lerch was starting to feel Wt nut "I eot skinned a ronnlp nf timps vYiivii uiuugiu i aiiuuiu nave pitched," said the Philadelphia Phillies' left-hander. Part of the problem, of course, was his disappointing 06 record.

Manager Dallas Green said he had "rested" Lerch the last 10 days because he felt the pitcher was playing with a lack of enthusiasm "He threw the heck out of the ball tonight," Green said. "Randy used the inside of the plate more. He had been working too much outside." Lerch really sparkled in the eighth inning, when a single and double put runners at second and third with none out. Lerch then retired the side, striking out Bill Robinson on a dazzling pitch. "He was due to pitch a good game," said Pittsburgh Manager Chuck Tanner.

"He's a good pitcher. Give him credit." Elsewhere in the National League, the Houston Astros nipped the San Diego Padres 10; the Atlanta Braves beat the San Francisco Giants 3-2 in 12 innings; the New York Mets defeated the St. Louis Cardinals 6-5 and the Montreal Expos and Chicago Cubs played to a 3-3 tie in a game I. ana aggressiveness. Apparently the rest helped.

Lerch 5' was abundantly enthusiastic and aggressive while pitching the Phillies to a 6-3 decision over the Pittsburgh Pirates Wednesday night with ninth-inning relief help from Ron Reed. Mavericks get ex-UK's Givens suspended after 10 innings by darkness. Lerch scattered 10 hits before leaving with none out in the ninth after giving up Lee Lacy's two-run homer, his second of the game. The left-hander had fine fielding support enroute to his first victory of the season. The victory boosted Philadelphia back into first place in the NL East over the Pirates by four percentage points.

Astros 1, Padres 0 Nolan Ryan pitched a masterful two-hitter to lead Houston over San Diego. Ryan, who at one point retired 12 straight batters, struck out seven and walked five on the way to his third victory of the season against four losses. The veteran right-hander yielded only a third-inning double to Rick Wise and an eighth-inning single to Ozzie Smith. The Astros scored their run on Enos Cabell's RBI single in the second. 'Mets 6, Cardinals 5 John Stearns drilled a tworun single and Elliott Maddox's bases-loaded double knocked in three more in a six-run eighth inning rally which carried New York over St.

Louis. The Mets sent 11 batters to the plate in their big inning, climaxing the rally when rookie Jose Moreno delivered a single to account for the winning run. The outburst wiped out a 5-0 Cardinal lead and provided the Mets with their ninth victory in 13 games while spelling the 12th loss in the last 13 starts for St. Louis. Expos 3, Cubs 3 An approaching thunderstorm at Wrigley Field caused the game between Montreal and Chicago to be suspended because of darkness.

The contest will be resumed at that point when Montreal returns to Chicago in August. The darkness at the only major league park without lights made play difficult in the umpire's opinion, and about 20 minutes after they had suspended the game, the area was drenched by a downpour. The Expos sent the game into extra innings in the ninth when pinch-hitter Jerry White hit a sacrifice fly to drive in pinchrunner Tony Bernazard from third base. Lansden signs from Division II to Division I this coming school: year. One of the sports added to help make the divisional jump is water polo, and Lansden said he is considering playing that sport, too.

Lansden is" the first, and only so far, local athlete to sign an athletic grant this year. (Photo by Ed Noble) Swimming star Joey Lansden of Madisonville-North signed a national letter-of -intent with Arkansas at Little Rock this morning at school. Looking on is his coach, Larry Nofsinger. Lansden, the best local swimmer the last two years, said he understands that ALR went undefeated in dual meets the past two seasons, and will be moving Spring Maroons honored assistant coach of the Phoenix Suns and one of the most highly regarded basketball coaches in the business. "It's tough to find good big men, and he's a quality player.

He might be their best pick." LaGarde was Seattle's starting center before suffering a knee injury early in the 1979 season. But he played all 82 games in a reserve role for the Sonics last year, and if he's healthy he could give the Mavericks someone to build around. The two point guards who should prove useful to Dallas are Mike Bratz and Billy McKinney, backup playmakers last season for Phoenix and Kansas City, respectively. And the three-point bomber is Joe Hassett, whose long-range shooting was the deciding factor in several games for the Indiana Pacers last season. If Dallas had to field a team today, it's starting five might list LaGarde at center, Winford Boynes of New Jersey and Richard Washington of Milwaukee at forward and Bratz and Austin Carr of Cleveland at guard.

But any or all of them, as well as the other players picked, may be used as trade bait by the Mavericks, who begin competition as the NBA's 23rd franchise next season. I-. LOS ANGELES (AP) What did the Dallas Mavericks get in the Na-J: tional Basketball Association expan-i sion draft? Among the new team members is former University of Kentucky star Jack Givens, who was grabbed from the roster of the Atlanta Hawks. Others chosen included Austin Carr of Cleveland, Richard 5 Washington of Milwaukee, Jeff Judkins of Boston, Delmer Beshore rof Chicago, Arvid Kramer of Den-j: ver, Terry Duerod of Detroit, Ray of Golden State, Alonzo Bradley of Houston, Joe Hassett of Indiana, Billy McKinney of Kansas City, Marty Byrnes of Los Angeles, Boynes of New Jersey, Geoff Huston of New York, Jim Spanarkel of Philadelphia, Mike Bratz of Phoenix, Abdul Jeelani of 't Portland, Wiley Peck of San An-s tonio: Bingo Smith of San Diego, Tom LaGarde of Seattle, Jerome I Whitehead of Utah and Jim Clemons 5 of Washington. I A center with a gimpy knee, a cou-l pie of pesky point guards, a long-j; range bomber who specializes in shooting three-point goals, a smattering of decent veterans and a 5 bunch of young players who will get their chance to prove whether they jj belong in the pros.

That was the consensus of opinion v. among the league's coaches and general managers meeting here this 'Sweek. The big item on the opening day's agenda was the announcement of Dallas' selections from the pool, and the Mavericks stuck to their game plan. "We wanted to go for youth whenever possible, with some The Madisonviile-North Hopkins baseball and track teams were honored at their annual banquets last night. The baseball team feasted at the Municipal Building in City Park, and Eric Taylor collected the big honors.

Taylor was named most valauble player, took home the Efficiency Rating Award for most times on base for the number of at bats, the Contact Award for fewest strike outs per at bats, and was the only member of the .400 club (batting average) and was the only Maroon named to the All-Big Eight diamond team. He was selected as designated hitter. Pitcher Mike Gibson was voted Best Pitcher, and he had the lowest earned run average at 1.35. Gibson, Bill Austin and Terry Mimms all made the .300 club. Gibson hit .358, Austin .336, and Mimms J303.

Austin also won the Golden Glove award for fewest errors in the field, while Mimms was the stolen base leader. Jimmy Cotton won the Leadership Award. The Madisonville-North track teams, meanwhile, feasted at the school cafeteria, and Mark Smiley and Tonia Potts grabbed the Most Valuable awards. Smiley, of course, finished third in the state in boys' Class AAA high jump, while Potts had to shake off the effects of an illness before finishing second in the Big Eight meet, and just missed, a trip to the state. -r John Herrmann, the Big Eight's champion shot putter, and Melissa Harris, were voted most dedicated Herrmann, by the way, was the Maroons' only All-Big Eight performer this spring.

Rookie of the Year honors, a new award, went to Dwight Carney, the semi-state hurdler, and Andrea Webster. Additionally, girls' coaches Ava Wilson and Cindy Fitch also handed out six 110 Percenter Awards to Venolia Smith, Lynn Jones, Lintfy Butler, Marion Egbert, Ann Wim-satt, and Angie Smiley. Those awards included steady practice attendance and performing up to ability most frequently. their pveterans blended in for leadership qualities," Rick Sund, State baseball tourney underway at Ft. Knox tplayer personnel director of the Mavericks, explained Wednesday.

'We feel we eot some solid nlavers. good fundamentals, from winning backgrounds, and those are the 1 i I mSs0 1 urn inn mm i team must score often to win. In the semistate final, it did, managing 21 hits in an 18-4 win over Ohio Eric Rust, who is 5-1, is expected to start against Tates Creek. If Kilburn doesn't pitch for Hazard, now 26-7, he will play' second base while Kenny Mc-Daniels, 6-1, or Tim Cornett, takes over the mound assignment, i- Trinity is 25-5 and considered a strong hitting club. FORT KNOX, Ky.

(AP) Pitching could be the decisive factor in the State Baseball Tournament which opens today at Cornwell Field at Fort Knox. Lexington Tates Creek has an outstanding hurler; so does Hazard. Tates Creek, which takes on Paducah St. Mary's in the opener, may call on right-hander Tony Harris, who is 6-0 and has allowed only one run In the last 22 innings. Hazard is expected to hand the ball to Tim Kilburn 'when the Bulldogs tangle with Louisville Trinity in the other afternoon game.

Kilburn is 7-0 this season and 16-0 over two seasons. Harris pitched a three-hit shutout against Bryan Station in the district and a two-hit shutout against Estill County in the regional for Tates Creek which enters the two-day tournament with a 14-9 record. It is the only former champion In the field, winning the title in 1978. Paducah St. Mary's is 19-4 and its coach, Richard Durbin, said his The Mavericks resisted the temptation to pick some of the well-known players who were put up lior grabs by the 22 existing teams, of whom was permitted to project eight men on Its roster.

Although the list was not made public, among those available were Skick Barry of Houston, Doug Collins iof Philadelphia, Spencer Haywood of Los Angeles, Nate Archibald of and Bobby Dandridge of Washington. But the Mavericks shied away from players with big contracts or Jilstories of injury or personal problems. "I think they put together a pretty good list," remarked New Jersey Sets General Manager Charlie JTheokas. "They got some young players who ought to help them down the road." "The one player who really Surprised me by being available was Tommy LaGarde," said Al Blanchl. We got 'em LEXINGTON, Ky.

(AP) Two state thoroughbred racing tracks have received permission to reio-state two-horse exotic betting in sin effort to boost attendance. The State Racing Commission on Wednesday granted the requests of Churchill Downs in Louisville and Latonia Race Course in Florence at the urging of Churchill Downs president Lynn Stone and four new commission members. The commission's ruling allows pprfecta and qulnella wagerVng. Neither Oatman nor Griesch had done much fishing in years before last night, and the fishing expedition was the spearhead of a series of stories that will appear shortly about the new wildlife management area. (Photo by Jim Griesch) Joncy Oatman displays the small bluegill he helped catch in the evening hours yesterday in a strip pit on the proposed White City Wildlife Management Area.

He was fishing with Fay Britt, Hopkins County's wildlife commissioner, and sports editor Jim Griesch the Messenger..