The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 27

INSIDE 28 No losing streak for Byrd 31 Expos crush Giants 34 Classified (Ehc dime Thursday, September 3, 1987 efts spoil ttlhi party agaoira MORNING LINE Kent Heitholt Captains are out; Jackson has five straight in East Texas League playoffs Captains into next year with a two-run ninth against relief pitcher Randy McCa-ment. Kurt DeLuca drilled a triple to the base of the blue board in deep center, Wilson Valera and Lawton cranked out doubles and it was close to being over. "We had a good year," postscripted Mull. "But I feel bad it had to end this way." Hartshorn's only concern in the early going came when Dixon walked to open the Captains' first at bat. Paul Meyers, next up, lied to right on a run-and-hit and when Dixon retreated to first base on the fly he neglected to retouch second base on the return trip and was called out on appeal.

After Ohnoutka's homer, off a 2-1 fastball, Jackson tied it in the fourth on Joaquin Contreras' leadoff double, an infield out that moved him to third and a Mike Hocutt single that Tony Perezchica flagged down deep on the1 rightfield grass. The Mets went up 2-1 in the fifth. Alan Hayden drove a one-out double to left-center and scored on a two-out Marcus Lawton single to right. The Captains, confined to Ohnoutka's homer through five innings, grew restless in the sixth. Ohnoutka opened with a groundout, but Dixon and Meyers lined successive singles through the infield.

There was a flurry of activity in the Mets' bullpen, but Hartshorn sat the fire brigade back down by getting Ty Dabney to hit into a double play. By BILL McINTYRE The Time Jackson's Mets have been there before, many times, and they were there again Wednesday night, winning a fifth straight Texas League East Division pennant by manhandling Shreveport's Captains 5-1 at Fair Grounds Field. The victory, played out with brilliant pitching for the most part but marred at the finish by on-field fisticuffs, gave the Mets a 2-1 series edge over the Captains and sent them into the league championship series, beginning Friday, at Wichita, a 3-2 winner over El Paso. The basebrawl erupted with Shreveport at bat in the eighth inning and trailing 3-1. With two outs, Dee Dixon of the Captains was cleared for a timeout by plate umpire Brian Owen, but Mets pitcher Kyle Hartshorn didn't get the message his head was down when the time was granted and he came around with a pitch wide of the plate that nearly skulled Dixon.

Words were exchanged and Dixon charged the mound, setting off a bench-emptying shoving match that ate up 30 minutes and resulted in the ejection of three players, Dixon and Kirt Man-waring of the Captains and Mets' bench-warmer Angelo Cuevas. The melee, said Shreveport manager Jack Mull, "was just too dang bad. I wish the ball game could have been decided between the players. "But we can't make excuses. We didn't hit.

(Brian) Ohnoutka threw well, (Kyle) Clapp, Dunbar, Phillips earn starts for LSU Much ado has been made about LSU Coach Mike Archer making his football head coaching debut Saturday night against Texas Jackie Sher-rill. But Archer knows that the person standing on the sidelines matters little in the overall course of a football game. After all, Sherrill hasn't made a tackle in years and Archer is a klutz at running the sprint out With that, some tid-bits on the Tigers' personnel: Archer and defensive coordinator Pete Jenkins have decided which Tigers will replace the departed trio of Karl Wilson, Henry Thomas and Roland Barbay on the defensive line. Tommy Clapp, a senior co-captain, and sophomore Karl Dunbar will be the starting ends. Darrell Phillips, a junior, will start at nose guard.

Sophomore Clint James and senior George Hen-riquez will see considerable duty as back-ups. Clapp has started 11 games in his career, Phillips saw action last year and Dunbar has vast potential. But "The biggest question is how they'll go from playing 15-to-20 snaps a game to playing 75," Archer said. A major worry is the small amount of practice time the group has had together. All five of the top lineman have missed at least four days of preseason practice because of injuries.

The group is now healthy, but has only practiced together for five days. "I think their conditioning has come around," Archer said, "but we're still going to have play a lot of people in the defensive line and we're just not very Injured linebackers The injury bug hit the defensive line hardest, but left its biggest scar on the linebackers. Hartshorn threw better." Hartshorn, a 6-foot-3 second-year Met from Allentown, N. who until this night had been cannon fodder for the Captains (a 1-5 record this season), frustrated the Captains with a three-hitter into the eighth inning. The only run off Hartshorn was a third-inning homer by Ohnoutka.

Ohnoutka, who also had homered off Hartshorn the last time he faced him on April 22, permitted only two isolated runs prior to giving up an eighth-inning homer to Felix Perdomo. Ohnoutka, who threw 70 percent strikes in a clutch setting Shreveport was searching hungrily for a first playoff series victory since 1955 perhaps deserved better. He was 3-0 against the Mets in regular-season play and had allowed them only one earned run in 30 innings. His last win on Aug. 18 was a 3-0 shutout of the Mets.

But that was yesterday's news. On this night, the Captains would close out their 1987 season, shaking hands somberly in the dressing room. "Disappointed," Mull said of his feelings. "Toward the end of the game there was some frustration." Neither pitcher was around at the finish. Ohnoutka was lifted for pinch-hitter Deron McCue in the eighth and one batter later Hartshorn was removed from the mound in a tactical move as the umpires sifted out the combatants and the ground crew cleaned the field of paper cups and debris deposited there by many of the 3,791 fans assembled.

Dixon's ejection caused some dismay. "I feel, because time was called, (the umpires) should have said, 'Look, time was called, so let's forget he said. Nobody in the Captains' quarters was condoning the crowd's behavior. "But, in a roundabout way," said pitching coach Marty DeMerritt, a catalyst for the team all summer long, "it sent chills up my spine. Because of the way they were behind us.

We did get stiffed." After the fracas, the Mets blew the Outside backer Eric Hill, who rises to the occasion on nationally televised games, will not start against the Aggies because of an ankle sprain. Earlier in the week, Hill was listed as doubtful. Now his status has been upgraded to probable, but Archer said he will "play it by ear" on how much Hill plays. The onlv Tieer nlaver wj, V' 11 mmmi Timet photosSUSAN POAO Shreveport's fans threw a stream of debris on the field after the Captains' Dee Dixon (11) charged the mound in the eighth inning. Jack son catcher Chris Jelic and plate umpire Brian Owen took off after Dixon.

Mike Archer who is definitely out of the contest is reserve fullback Mickey Harris (sprained foot). BArcher said four true freshmen could see action Saturday night. Wide receiver Todd Kinchen, 'the younger brother of All-Southeastern Con-j ference tight end Brian, will be the first to play. Kinchen is a back-up at the wideout, but will handle punt returns. Nose guard Torun Robinson and defensive lineman Craig Norris are likely to be thrown into the fray.

Offensive lineman Andy Martin of De-IRidder might be forced into action, but Archer Said the coaches would prefer to redshirt him this -season. Revolving tailbacks iWith three quality performers at tailback, ex-; pect to see a revolving door in the Tigers' huddle. Sophomore Harvey Williams, the team's leading rusher in 1986, will start, but No. 2 man Sam who had a sterling game against Texas last season, and Leesville's Eddie Fuller will also play. "We'll keep shuffling them in and out, trying to keep a fresh runner in there at all times," Archer said.

bLSU's tentative starting lineups: Offense Wendell Davis, SE; Rogie Magee, FL; Tom Hodson, QB; Harvey Williams, TB; Victor Jones, RB; Brian Kinchen, TE; Ralph Norwood, LT; Ruf- fin Rodrigue, LG; Nacho Albergamo, Eric An-idolsek, RG; Robert Packnett, RT. Defense Tommy Clapp, LE; Darrell Phillips, a NG; Karl Dunbar, RE; Ron Sancho, OLB; Darren Malbrough, ILB; Nicky Hazard, ILB; Oliver Law-fence, OLB; Willie Bryant, LCB; Greg Jackson, SS; Chris Carrier, WS; Kevin Guidry, RCB. Mets had champagne; Captains only had pain By KENT HEITHOLT The Times Under the orders of Shreveport manager Jack Mull, there was to be no champagne in the victory celebration. Champagne, said Mull, was being reserved for the Texas League championship, not the East Division title. But there will be no champagne in the Captains' locker room this year.

There will be no championship, either. Arch-rival Jackson, for the second straight year, saw to that. And saw to ob taining a case of the champagne. If you're a Captains' fan, bellyache, if it makes you feel a little better. Point at the eighth-inning rhubarb when Dee Dixon ran at Jackson pitcher Kyle Hartshorn and say the Mets are jerks, if it helps ease the disappointment But as Pat Adams of the Captains said, the best team in the three-game Texas League Eastern Division playoffs won.

"They played better than we did, it's not that hard to figure out," Adams said. "They got the hits and came up with the great pitching performance when they had to have it." They were the Jackson Mets, who have spent more years in the Texas League playoffs than a habitual criminal spends in the slammer. They've been in the playoffs eight straight years and have won the East six times. The Captains just ran into a buzzsaw. An emotional crowd and a confident team didn't matter.

The Mets and winning pitcher Hartshorn were on a roll. It didn't matter that Texas League MVP Gregg Jeff eries was gone. It didn't matter that the Cap tains had pulled off a miracle in the series opener. Some guy named Felix Perdomo, with a homer and two doubles in two games, was playing like a star and Marcus Law-ton was belting line shots all over Fair Grounds Field. "This is what we came here for.

We've been doing this all of the second half," said Lawton, who had three hits including the game-winner in the 5-1 clincher. "All we had to do was get the pitchers See CAPTAINS on Page 32 Washington happy to be back on opening night Need a crowd? Use the pope's NEW ORLEANS (AP) Tulane football Coach Mack Brown said he has a great idea for filling the stands for Tulane's home opener against Iowa State in the Louisiana Superdome on Sept. 12. That's the evening that Pope John Paul II addresses some 72,000 youngsters in a mid-day youth rally at the big indoor stadium. "We'll just keep all the kids there," Brown said.

"Close the doors and tell them, 'Nyah, nyah, Almost 10,000 of the young people are to be seated on portable chairs on the covered playing field during the Pope's appearance. To help convert the stadium back to a football field, those seated on the floor will be asked to carry their chairs with them when they leave the field. "I don't know, maybe we ought to ask them to leave the chairs there," said Brown, whose team was 4-7 last year. "Maybe it would help us." By BRIAN McNICOLL The Times Clyde Washington has had his time off and he's ready to coach some footbal! again. Tonight, he'll get his chance when hii Mansfield Wolverines take on Huntington at 7:30 at Caddo Parish Stadium Across town at Independence Stadium, Southwood entertains Marshall, Texas.

Elsewhere in the area, Plain Dealing plays at Bradley, Farmerville plays host to Rayville and Tioga visits Natchitoches-Central at Turpin Stadium. Washington, a 26-year veteran of the coaching ranks, spent last year as an assistant principal, but when DeSoto Parish curtailed administrative staffs, he headed back to the sidelines. He doesn't like what he remembers of last year's season-opening game against Huntington the queasy uneasiness of a coach banished to the stands. "It was a little like a boxing match," Washington recalled. "Like waiting on Rhodes, who nominated Johnson for the all-district team last year.

"He may be our fastest guy over 40 yards," said Rhodes. "He started for us in basketball last year, he has that quickness and explosiveness and you've got to respect him out there." Mansfield rushed for fewer than 50 yards in last year's game, something Washington doesn't expect to happen again. Returning all-district pick Elvis Jackson, along with Michael Addison and Perry Robinson, head what Washington calls "a good crop" of Mansfield running backs. But what will worry Wolverines' opponents all year is the passing game. Jerry Wilson was the state 200-meter track champ last year as a junior and is a respected wideout.

Quarterback Harry McKinney, a converted tight end, "is an excellent athlete, and he can throw the ball," said Rhodes. "Our philosophy is to pressure the quarterback to throw before the receivers can get deep on us," said Rhodes. that first punch. I was wondering how I was going to take it sitting in the stands." He didn't take it well, especially when Huntington's Cornell Johnson returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown. "What that shows," said Washington, "is that you're not prepared." Huntington went on to win 21-3 in that game and hold Mansfield to 136 yards total offense.

This year, Washington will be prepared. He and his staff worked a little extra on kicking off this week to prepare for Johnson, who scored on a 78-yard touchdown pass last week in the jamboree. Johnson also had two big defensive plays in the jamboree an interception of a Fair Park pass inside the Huntington 20 and a big fourth-down tackle at the Huntington 11. He's become the early story for Huntington. "A lot of people who didn't know him might have been surprised by that, but I wasn't," said Raiders coach Tony "We don't usually double cover or change our coverages that much." Southwood running back Marcus Pipkens, who has been hurt, will play tonight for the first time.

That is not only good news for his running game but the passing game as well, said Cowboys Coach Ron Worthen. "He has quickness and good lateral movement and he gives us another dimension catching the ball Worthen said. Pipkens caught five passes for touchdowns last year and none of them came on a screen. He is used as a flanker and a wingback in addition to playine tailback. 6 The Southwood defense will have its hands full with the option-running Mavs Running back Odell Beckham gained over 1,100 yards last year as a sophomore and was East Texas Newcomer of the Year.

"We'll have to shut down his running lanes and contain on the corners Worthen. "If Beckham turns the cordon you, he gets a lot of distance out of it.".