Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 19

ports Today's TV tip Play at Wimbledon resumes today with seeded players (acing oil. Steffi Graf takes on upstart Jennifer Capriati and Stefan Edberg goes against Michael Chang. Channel 4, 9 a.m. Monday Section 2D BASEBALL 3D RUNNING, SOCCER 4D GOLF 5D AT A GLANCE JULY 2, 1990 RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL SCORELINE: 3234422 SPORTS EDITOR: JAMIE TURNER, 7886345 Sox slugger could use a break Europeans don't fathom baseball LONDON (AP) Americans having trouble understanding World Cup soccer take heart. You are not alone.

Sports fans in Europe, who have welcomed American football and basketball with open arms, just don't get baseball. The no-hitters Friday night by Dave Stewart of the Oakland Athletics and Fernando Va0fcuela of the Los Angeles team has been lifted. "All the other teams started to pitch Whitfield pretty tough," said Reno manager Mike Brown. "Now, he has started to relax because he knows he doesn't have to do everything. "Another reason is that everyone around him has started to hit.

Milt Harper (26 RBI in 31 games) is healthy, Brad DeJardin is hitting over .300 and Mike Sarbaugh is hitting .330. Pitchers have to give Whitfield some good pitches now because they don't want guys on base when those other guys come up." One number the Silver Sox are happy to see decrease is Whitfield's strikeout total. Whitfield has a team-high 64 strikeouts in 74 games but went through a brief stretch in late May when he averaged two strikeouts a game. In Friday's loss to San Jose, Whitfield drew three walks. just want the chance to see if I'm major-league material." Whether Whitfield, 25, will make it to the majors has yet to be seen, but the way he has been playing recently may get him a ticket to a higher level in the Cleveland Indians farm system.

Whitfield had homered in four consecutive games, but went hitless in four at bats Saturday against San Jose. "That's the first time in my career I've ever done that," Whitfield said. "I'm in a pretty good groove right now. I'm seeing the ball pretty good and hitting solid." Whitfield has hit safely in 10 of 12 games and is batting .370 (20-for-54) in that span. His 18 home runs this season ties him for first in the California League with Dave Staton of Riverside.

He is third in the league with 53 runs batted-in. The main reason for Whitfield's success is the improvement of the hitters around him. The burden of having to carry the Jo GosenGaeiie journal HOT BAT: Ken Whitfield is tied for the Cal League lead in home runs. No-hitter not good Cyclists just limbering up PfffTJR tjJ) -i By Martin RosaleszGaiette-Journal After seven years in the minor leagues, Ken Whitfield has become an expert on many subjects. The starting right fielder for the Reno Silver Sox, Whitfield can regale teammates on the fine art of surviving bus trips, hotel rooms, bad food and sleepless nights.

On baseball matters, he can probably give reliable tips on hitting home runs and running the bases cleanly. One thing Whitfield can't boast about, though, is luck. It's because of luck, or lack thereof, that he is still in the minors. "I don't think I've had the breaks in my career," Whitfield said. "I've worked pretty hard to get back into the game and I still have never made it past Class A except for once.

"But I haven't given up on myself yet. I'm eager to advance. I would really be surprised if I'm in A-ball again next year. I LEMOND LAGS: Greg LeMond lost nearly around Poitiers, France, in the second day "I don't know what's wrong," Gallo said. "Maybe the pitchers are in a slump right now, just like batters go through.

I think we just have to try to get our confidence back. We still have a whole half to go." Gallo and manager Mike Brown have deflected attention from the pitching staff because the team has been winning. The Silver Sox finished June with a 21-6 record, best in professional baseball, but are 3-3 on the current homestand. It's too early to panic, players said. "Right now the hitting is going well," said Reno outfielder Brad DeJardin.

"Earlier in the season, the pitching was good and the hitting was bad. We just have to get the pitching going again and we'll be all right." "They've just stumbled across a snag," said catcher Barry Rlackwell. "We'll work out of it as a team. We're not going to start pointing fingers and barking at each other." The Giants pounded Ortiz from the start. San Jose sent 19 batters to the plate in the first two innings and took a 7-0 lead.

Silver Sox third baseman Mike Sarbaugh See SILVER SOX, page 6D i 7 Smi Canadian's race recalls 1 988 effort By Salvatore ZancaAP POITIERS, France (AP) Canada's Steve Bauer raced into the lead of the Tour de France on Sunday with a performance that brought back memories of 1988. In the morning, Bauer was fourth in the first stage, an 86-mile loop near Poitiers in central France. That put him in the leader's yellow jersey, the same place he was after the first stage in '88. However, unlike two years ago, he held it through the afternoon team time trial. His 7-Eleven team, paced by American Andy Hampsten, came in sixth.

The time of 54 minutes, 12 seconds over the 27.5 miles permitted Bauer to gain a 10-second overall lead over Frans Maassen of the Netherlands. "The key to keeping the yellow jersey is a good performance by my 7-Eleven team," Bauer said. "But Monday is another day and there are bonuses to take and Maassen is a good sprinter." Intermediate sprint bonuses count for six seconds deduction and stage winners can also gain precious seconds in a mass finish. Maassen won the morning stage but his Buckler team couldn't help him overtake Bauer in the afternoon. Buckler ended with a time of 54:20.

Panasonic's team won with 53:24. Ronan Pensec, a member of Greg LeMond's team, is third overall, 26 seconds back of Bauer. Defending champion LeMond is more than 10 minutes behind Bauer in 34th. Laurent Fig-non of France is 28th, five seconds ahead of LeMond. After Saturday's prologue and Sunday's two races around Poitiers in central France, the teams head to Nantes See TOUR, page 6D Dfyicv received scant mention in Tnrwsn press, ana one oi newspapers that did Sport on them had trouble 2tumng tne signuicance to us readers.

ftjjhe) Sunday Times mentioned Stewart and vaienzueia were the first to pitch no-hitters in different leagues on tne same v. To fans brought up on cricket, the immensity might be lost, so the Sunday Times went "Strictly speaking, a no-hitter does not mean that no opponents have hit the ball. It means that no batter has reached first base, except, of course, those who walk. If you feel a little confused, please join the club. Neverthless, a no-hitter is a considerable achievement." Scoreboard American League Boston 15, Texas 4 Cleveland 5, California 3 Toronto 4, Oakland 3 Chicago 4, New York 0 Detroit 9, Kansas City 4 Seattle 6, Milwaukee 5 Minnesota 4, Baltimore 3 National League Montreal 5, Atlanta 1 New York 3, Cincinnati 2 Philadelphia 8, Houston 4 Pittsburgh 8, San Francisco 5 St.

Louis 6, Los Angeles 5 Chicago 11, San Diego 10 Four killed in van crash LATINA, Italy A van carrying English soccer fans and a car of Italians collided head-on early Sunday, killing the three Italians and the head of the Bournemouth Football Club in England, authorities said. The accident occurred outside Latina, 40 miles south of Rome, as the English fans were returning from the World Cup game between Italy and Ireland in the Italian capital, police said. Prince Charles released CIRENCESTER, England Prince Charles left the hospital Sunday with his broken right arm in a cast and a sling. "You can all go home at last," he told reporters and photographers who had staked out the hospital entry since Thursday, when the heir to the British throne suffered two fractures in his upper right arm during a polo match. Princess Diana, celebrating her 29th birthday on Sunday, was by Charles' side as he thanked doctors and nurses at Cirencester Hospital.

Se habla minor leagues? HUNTINGTON, W.Va. Nine Latin American players whose baseball skills brought them to the United States say they're enjoying life in West Virginia, even if it is with the minor-league Huntington Cubs. Among them, only Rolando Fernandez, an outfielder from of Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico, is fluent in English, and he acts as interpreter for the others. "The first few days were hard for me because I don't know much English," said Rafael Soto, 17, a shortstop from Bani, Dominican Republic. "I'm trying real hard to learn and it's getting easier for me." "When you're having problems you're not really into baseball 100 percent.

You try to be, but it is difficult," he said. Quotebook "I'm sorry to hear he joined me. I was very happy being the only man to lose a no-hitter. I'm sorry he had to lose it. Now we're a group of two." Ken Johnson, a pitcher for the Houston Colts 45s when he no-hit the Cincinnati Reds on April 23, 1964, but lost 1-0, thanks to two errors.

Wire service reports Out dS3 Abcmt iijiiiiiNlfiiipi.M JHI To subMJtetns, mail to Rf aazehesJour-nalio. Box 22000, 89520. YMCA Sign up program. Oct. 27.

too. Call YOUTH A open to No passing See WHITFIELD, page 6D Yankee loses game, 4-0, due to errors By Tom PedullaGannett News Service CHICAGO New York Yankees' righthander Andy Hawkins achieved a pitcher's dream Sunday only to awaken to find it was a nightmare. The overpowering Hawkins fell victim to the most lopsided regulation no-hit defeat in history when the Yankees made three errors in a heart-wrenching eighth inning that gave the Chicago White Sox a 4-0 triumph. "I'm stunned I threw one," Hawkins Hawkins (1-5) said of the Yankees' eighth no-hitter. "I'm also stunned I got beat." Hawkins' no-hitter was the sixth in the majors this season and the third in three days.

Oakland's Dave Stewart and Los Angeles' Fernando Vaienzueia completed their masterpieces Friday night. One of the strangest games in major league history took a cruel turn for Hawkins with two outs in the ill-fated eighth inning. Rookie Mike Blowers' inability to backhand a bouncer to third base ultimately combined with dropped fly balls by left fielder Jim Leyritz and rightfielder Jesse Barfield to forever mar Hawkins' eight innings of greatness. "I've never envisioned a no-hitter like this." he said. "I gave up four runs and took the loss." Could anvone envision a no-hitter like this? This was only the third nine-inning no-hit defeat in history.

Houston's Ken Johnson was a 1-0 loser to Cincinnati on April 23, 1964. Baltimore's Steve Barber and Stu Miller shared the pain in a 2-1 heartbreak-er against Detroit on April 30, 1967, Miller recording the final out. Eight other no-hitters were lost in extra innings. "Unbelievable. We should still be play-See HAWKINS, page 2D Marathon winner finished strong SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Antoni Niemczak of Alamosa, took the lead with less than two miles to run and won the San Francisco Marathon in course-record time Sunday.

Niemczak overtook Andres Espinoza of Mexico at the 25-mile mark and outran him to the wire, finishing in a time of two hours, 13 minutes, 48 seconds. The previous men's course record was 2:15:01. Espinoza led from the 2-mile mark and had a 100-yard lead at the 20-mile mark before Niemczak began closing. Espino-za's final time was 2:14:03. Menonnen Tulu of Minnetonka, finished third in 2:18:44.

The race's defending champion, Ernest Tjela. was prohibited from running this year because he participated in a race in Johannesburg, South Africa, last month. Janis Klecker of Minnetonka, won the women's competition in 2:39:51. Klecker, who finished fourth in a marathon in Duluth, 10 days before running in San Francisco, took the lead at the race's halfway point and was not threatened. JUNIOR TENNIS The Sparks Leisure Services Department is conducting a junior tennis tournament at Burgess Park July 16-19.

Enter by Friday. Call 827-2128 or 1 Foes tee off on Silver Sox Associated Press 10 minutes to the leader in two races of the Tour de France Sunday. MARATHONVO Mercedes-Benz 4 Htf Associated Press FEELS GOOD: Antoni Niemczak won the San Francisco Marathon in record time. 1 1 I 1 1 By Martin RosaleSGazette-Journal Seventy-seven hits and 61 runs later, the Reno Silver Sox are finally starting to show concern for their suddenly-vulnerable pitching staff. For the third time in six games, Reno pitchers allowed the opponent to score more than 10 runs.

Sunday, however, the Silver Sox defense didn't help matters and contributed to a 13-9 defeat to the San Jose Giants in a California League game at Moana Municipal Stadium. "Yeah, I'm concerned," said Reno pitching coach Ben Gallo, who once again saw his staff hammered. "Our pitchers just have to start being more aggressive. They're just not concentrating on getting through the first few innings. "The relievers are doing a fair job, but I think right now they are a little tired.

We just have to start getting more innings out of our starters." This time it was starting pitcher Angel Ortiz who failed early. Ortiz came into the contest with an 2-0 record, but was rocked for seven runs on five hits in two innings. Only one of the runs was earned, but Ortiz struggled the entire time on the mound. MOUNTAIN RUN Squaw Valley hosts a grueling 10K race that includes a climb in less than four miles on Aug. 4.

Entry fee is $12. Call (916)' SNAKES ALIVE Learn about Nevada's poisonous and non-poisonous snakes at Washoe Lake State Park. Two-hour workshop begins at 10 a.m. Saturday. Call 687-4319 RENO POP WARNER Registration for gridiron stars ages 7 through 14 is scheduled from 9 a.m.

to noon Saturday at O'Brien Middle School, Mira Loma and Idlewild parks. SOCCER now for the YMCA Youth Soccer Season runs Aug. 20 through Everyone plays. Coaches needed 329-1311 HOCKEY non-contact, learn-to-skate program is boys and girls ages 4 through 17. experience necessary.

Learn shooting, and stick handling. Call 359-963. 426 9559 S..