The Greenville News from Greenville, South Carolina • Page 34

BASEBALL Big day for Alomar AUTO RACING Tying a record Mark Martin's 31st Grand National victory ties him with Jack Ingram atop career win list Page4C A 4 l' Auto racing: Winston xm, p.m., Baseball: Padres at Braves, 1:05 p.m., TBS Baseball: Pirates at Cubs, 2:20 p.m., WGN NBA playoffs: Bullets at Bulls, 5:30 p.m., Ch. 4 NBA playoffs: Pistons at Hawks, 8 p.m., TNT Complete TV istings, Page 5C Second baseman slams three homers in Orioles' 14-5 win over Red Sox. Page2C tl SECTION in -4 Sunriav I April 27, 1997 6C Outdoors 10C SPORTS ON TV i 3QrtB di; 3 1 Dan Foster Lafog was (fcoi NIK PLAYOFFS: FUST ROUND Knicks 100, Hornets 93 New York leads series 2-0 It gave New York a 2-0 lead in the best-of-5 series, which moves to INSIDE Charlotte Monday night for Hornets box Page 3C. Monday, Charlotte Time: 8 p.m. TV: Ch.

40 and TNT Game 4: Thursday ifttcasary Game 3. "We're beating our- selves," said Rice, who had only six points in the final late in the game." Patrick Ewing led New York with 30 points on 15-for-21 shooting with six rebounds and three blocks. Chris Childs had 17, including three straight jumpers late in the fourth that helped New York wrap it up. "He was open three times in a row because we had poor rotation on defense," Rice said, "but we didn't think he would continue to knock them down like he did." By Chris Sheridan AP Basketball Writer NEW YORK Three quarters of Rice and one quarter of slop was a recipe that didn't work out well for the Charlotte Hornets. The New York Knicks withstood 39 points from Glen Rice and held the injury-depleted and bumbling Hornets without a field goal for more than 8Vi minutes of the fourth quarter Saturday for a 100-93 victory.

hi i 1 1 12 minutes after, scoring 33 in the first three quarters. "We made a lot of mistakes on the offensive end, we didn't take care of the ball and we didn't play as aggressive as we're capable of Thornblade folks like iGreensboro scoreboard REMBERT'S If (0 vM hose involved in Monday's Thornblade Classic here probably loved the way things went in Greensboro, N.C., Jones' homer sinks Padres Xs ji Welcome: The community oRembert, located about 40 miles east of Columbia in Sumter County, is home to Atlanta Braves pitcher Terrell Wade. A small South Carolina town is where Braves pitcher Terrell Wade turned his major league dream into reality By Tim Luke Atlanta Bureau ATLANTA A few more nights UKe Saturday ana oniy Anaruw jones legend will be longer than his home runs. His team trail- RWKkT" ing by a run in the 10th inning, "l7' Jones turned on a a r4 4 CI Trevor Hoffman INSIDE fastball and turned all the Box score 9C fears into cheers. Chastised by manager Bobby Cox for his lackadaisical attitude and effort in Colorado last weekend, Jones this weekend returned to cult hero status.

Jones' two-run home run victimized San Diego's closer and handed the Braves a 3-2 victory before the remnants of a crowd of 45,473 in Turner Field. Atlanta improved to 10-1 at home and tied its franchise record with 16 victories in April. Simultaneously, a home run and the See BRAVESon page 9C (I If lm --4i iV One reason is that the two players sharing the lead going into today's final round of the Greensboro Chrysler Classic will head right on down rto Greenville tonight to play here Monday. And here, particularly, Brad jFaxon and Tom Kite are among ithe most popular players on the Itour. i Faxon, 35, an '83 graduate of Furman, had the lowest round of the tournament Saturday, a sev-en'-under-par 65.

He had started ithe round two strokes behind Jthe 47-year-old Kite, but late in the round had gone two strokes ahead of Kite. I However, Kite, playing later jthan Faxon, made up the differ-jence and tied him for the lead. i Ordinarily the prize money is Ithe biggest reason for a player's wanting to win, but both these jguys have special additional reasons for wanting Sunday's tro-iphy. For Faxon, it would almost jcertainly guarantee a spot on the jRyder Cup team, While Kite is the team captain, he has more ground to gain to Secure a Ryder berth than Fax-Ion faces. And Kite wants to earn a place as a player, not merely jto serve as captain, although jthat's no small honor.

The streaks I Both players are modern and convincing evidence that golfers jhit hot streaks that come without warning and leave without warning. Although Kite is a rare $10 million career money winner, he hasn't won a tournament since 1993. He was an unflattering 104th on the money list in 1995 and 66th last year. Yet he beat everybody but Tiger Woods in the and now, two weeks later, he's tied for the Greensboro i Faxon might be said to have ibeen "burdened" by the richest financial year of his career last year. He won more than a million dollars, eighth on the list, but was slightly embarrassed about winning that much money without winning a tournament, Well, he has this year, in fact this month.

And he finished second at Hilton Head last Sunday for another $132,000, but he'd like to be a guy who won two tournaments in a month. He won two in five weeks in 1992 and has won five in a 15-year career. I You'd think at their ages and levels they'd have settled on their games by now, but Kite said on TV Saturday that Faxon among the players he watched, then changed his putting stroke before the Masters. Faxon said tips from two CBS isportscasters about his shoulder position helped him shoot his 65. Who knows what they might have heard Saturday night that could make the difference? To reach sports editor Dan Fos-; ter, please call 298-4313.

Ex-Paladin Faxon ties for lead Photographs by ALAN HAWES Staff Armed and ready: Travis Wade, the 8-year-old brother of Braves pitcher Terrell Wade, shows off his muscle while parents Horace and Frances Wade pass the time in front of the Rembert Sports Center, a family-owned gathering place in town. By Rick Scoppe and Tim Luke Staff Writers By David Droschak AP Sports Writer GREENSBORO, N.C. Former Furman University player Brad Faxon usually says "no thanks" when people ask to show him video of his swing "That was a lot of money for me," Wade said. "I'm not one of those guys who was well off, and they just put it in your hands. I had to work for everything we got.

So that was a big help for me, and my mom and dad." EMBERT Terrell Wade's future lay on a pool table at the Rembert Sports Center. A contract with the Atlanta Braves awaited his signature. It offered him a future of throwing baseballs rather than laying bricks. ti Six years later, Clark still shakes his head when he recalls that early summer evening. "I knew I liked him right off the bat," Clark said.

"Most kids would have jumped up and down. He was calm, cool and collected. After he ran the table, he walked over and I during a tournament. But Faxon had little choice after Friday's second round of the Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic when he was summoned to the CBS booth following his round and analyst Peter Kostis began But Wade, then 18 and comfortable with his life in this town of 1,800 with one flashing yellow light, was preoccupied. Politely, Wade asked Braves' scout Roy Clark if he'd wait a few minutes.

"6 Brad Faxon Rising to the top: Terrell Wade pitched in Greenville for parts of two seasons. BART BOATWRIGHT Staff breaking down his swing. "I don't ever remember somebody taking me to the TV tower and saying, 'Hey, said Faxon, who took his turn atop what has been a signed the contract "Amazing." Roy Clark aptly describes Terrell Wade's story and his rise in the Braves' organization to become the fifth pitcher in the game's best starting rotation. It was because of Wade's potential that the Braves cut free Steve Avery, another lefthander whose promise lapsed. Now, as the Braves eye a sixth straight division championship and a return to the World Series for the fifth time in six years, Wade brings the arm of the future to the mix.

And the arm brings a fastball clocked at 95 mph. See FAVORITE on page 8C Clark was willing to be patient He liked what he'd seen in this left-handed pitcher at a tryout a few hours earlier. Wade walked across the bare concrete floor, picked up a pool stick and ran the balls on the other table. Then he signed. "It was just a little friendly wager," Wade recalled.

"Five or 10 bucks, something like that" A few weeks later, he received a check from the Braves for $5,000, his bonus for signing. He mailed it home to his mother. crowded leaderboard, shooting a tournament-low 65 Saturday to tie Tom Kite after three rounds. "I get a little bit nervous when I'm playing in a tournament ana somebody says, Here is your swing, do you want to look at See FAXON on page 9C.