The Times from Shreveport, Louisiana • Page 22

SPOETS 4C 1 WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 1993 THE TIMES Byrd keeps 1-5A lead in baseball Detroit scores record 20 runs an home debut AP Laserphoto Detroit's Lou Whltaker steals second as the throw to Oakland's Mike Bordick arrives too late. Lee Smith saves record 358 BRAVES 3, CUBS 2 Tom Glavine survived a shaky first inning for his second victory and David Justice hit a home run at Atlanta as the Braves beat Chicago. The Braves, who entered the game with a .188 team batting average, had nine hits for their second-highest total this season. Atlanta has won six of its first nine games. Glavine (2-0) gave up two runs and three hits in the first inning before settling down.

He allowed six hits in eight innings and Mike Stanton finished for his fourth save. Eight of the Braves' hits came off starter Frank Castillo (0-1), who pitched six innings. Justice hit a 413-foot homer over the center-field fence in the second inning. ASTROS 9, MONTREAL 6 Andujar Cedeno's two-run single and Ed Taubensee's two-run homer highlighted a seven-run eighth inning as Houston rallied to beat Montreal, spoiling the Expos' home opener before a crowd of 51,539 at Olympic Stadium. The Expos blew a 5-2 lead after manager Felipe Alou chose to relieve Ken Hill at the start of the eighth.

Hill allowed four hits and two runs in seven innings. The rally made a winner of reliever Brian Williams (1-0), who allowed one run in three innings. Doug Jones finished for his second save as the Astros won their fourth straight game after starting the season 0-3 at home. GIANTS 3, MARUNS 1 Ex-Shreveport Captain Kirt Man-waring's solo homer in the fifth inning snapped a tie as San Francisco beat visiting Florida. It was the Giants' fourth straight victory, giving them five wins in their first eight games.

The Marlins, playing the second game of their inaugural road trip, have lost six of their last seven. Manwaring hit his first home run of the year to left-center field off Florida starter Luis Aquino (0-1). In the eighth, Man-waring led off with a double. CARDINALS 9, DODGERS 7 At Los Angeles, Lee Smith became the major league's all-time save leader in St. Louis' victory over Los Angeles.

Smith got the last three outs for his 358th career save, surpassing Jeff Reardon of Cincinnati. It was Smith's third save this season. PHILLIES 4, REDS 1 Philadelphia won for the seventh time in eight games for one of the best starts in team history as Tommy Greene pitched seven strong innings at Philadelphia. It is the Phillies' best start since beginning the 1915 season 8-0. They were 10-2 to start the 1964 season.

i Beats Airline: Woodlawn by a game and Southwood by a half-game. By RUSSELL HEDGES The Times The Byrd Yellow Jackets maintained the District 1-5A baseball lpad Tuesdav and the Parkwav Panthers moved to the top of the District 1-4A standings. T)ir-4 ar-rwnA An a run in t.ha tourtn inning ana maae stana up in a 1-0 victory against the Airline Vikings. Jeff Hogan (5-1) scattered sev-en hits to pick up the victory, and Trey Wynn and Kelly Payne led the Jackets at the plate with two hits each. lawn by a game and Southwood by a half game.

IN DISTRICT 1-4 A Parkwav downed North Caddo 11-1 and; got a little help from Northwood. The Falcons defeated Haughton 3-2 to knock the Bucs out of a share of the district lead. John Janicky, Brad Dowden and John Jenkins had three RBI apiece to lead the Panthers (13-7, 6-2). Jenkins (6-1) went -1 1 Al inree innings ana piciiea up wie victory. Chase Ingles hit a home run with one out in the first extra inning to lift Northwood (7-12, 4-4) past Haughton.

Micah Strother led Haughton (13-7, 5-3) with three hits, including two doubles. fl IN DISTRICT 2-4A Jeff Howell pitched a one-hitter as Minden remained atop the standings with a 10-0 victory against Carroll. The Crimson Tide's Jeff Tuey hit a two-run home run and Russell Godwin went 3-for-3. IN DISTRICT 1-A Cotton Valley swept a doubleheader from Plain Dealing 10-0 and 6-5 to clinch the championship. Chad Johnston had two home runs on the day, including the game-winner in game two.

IN DISTRICT 1-4A The Parkway Lady Panthers completed the schedule undefeated with a sweep of North Caddo, 6-1 and 15-2. Briana Rivera went 2-for-2 and Melissa Johnson had seven strikeouts to lead the Lady Panthers (17-14, 8-0). Runner-up Haughton routed Northwood 16-1. Amanda Lambert (6-3) was the winning pitcher as the Lady Bucs improved to 16-10 overall and 5-2 in district play. IN DISTRICT 1-5A Natchitoches Central will play host to Byrd for second place today after defeating Woodlawn 8-1.

Becca Allen and Kita Williams led the Lady Chiefs with three RBI each and Reisha Alexander led Woodlawn with three hits. Airline upped its district record to 6-5 with a 16-3 victorv against Caddo Magnet. Zenobia Porter led the Lady Vikes with three hits and six stolen bases. After dropping three straight at home, the Shreveport Captains begin their first road trip of the season. The Captains begin a five-game series tonight in Jackson against a hot Generals team.

After five games in Jackson, the Captains will play five games at Arkansas. "I think the guys are ready," Captains manager Ron Wotus said. "We've lost three here. Maybe, it'll do us some good to get on the road and play some ball games." Standings First Half EASTERN DIVISION I Pet OB Jackson 4 0 1.000 Arkansas 3 1 .750 1 Shreveport 1 3 .250 3 Tulsa 0 4 .000 4 WESTERN DIVISION El Paso 4 0 1.000 Midland 2 2 .500 2 San Antonio .500 2 Wichita 0 4 .000 4 MONDAY'S GAMES Arkana 3 Shreveport 2 Jackson 13 Tulsa 3 San Antonio 9 Midland 2 El Paso 9 Wichita 6 TUESDAY'S GAMES Arkana 3 Shreveport 1 Tulsa at Jackson San Antonio at Midland Wichita at El Paso WEDNESDAY'S GAMES Shreveport at Jackson Arkansas at Tulsa El Paso at Midland Wichita at San Antonio The Associated Press DETROIT The Detroit Tigers hit three three-run homers and'set a team record for runs in a home opener Tuesday, crushing Ihe Oakland Athletics 20-4. Ex-Shreveport Captain Rob Deer, Mickey Tettleton and Travis Fryman hit the home runs.

The previous club record for runs in a home opener was set in a 15-7 victory over Cleveland in 1922. It also tied the most runs ever allowed by Oakland, set on two other occasions. Mike Moore (1-1), the former Oakland pitcher whom the Tiger obtained as a free agent, allowed four runs on five hits in 6 2-3 Jnnings for the victory. Storm Davis (0-2) gave up eigKt runs on seven hits in 2 '4 innihgs for Oakland. Davis also walked five and had a throwing error that resulted in two runs, Tlje Tigers, who dropped two of three to the Athletics in Oakland to start the season last week, scored in each of the first four1 innings.

They scored four in the first, three in the second, one in the third and eight in the fourth. Detroit, which had 18 hits, and 12 walks, added four unearned runs in the eighth. RANGERS 8, ORIOLES 3 Fernando Valenzuela's first major league start since 1991 was spoijed when Texas tagged him for runs in 2 innings in a victory over Baltimore in Arlington Valenzuela (0-1) gave up six famed runs on five hits, two walls and a hit batter. He also made a wild pickoff throw and threw a wild pitch. RED SOX 6, INDIANS 2 Scotl Fletcher hit a two-run homer Mike Greenwell had a two-run triple as Boston, whose weaK offense dismayed Fenway Par fans last year, defeated Cleveland in the Red Sox's home opener.

Fletcher homered over the left-fieloSvall in the fourth inning off starter Jeff Mutis (0-1). Green-well hit his triple in a three-run third inning and Mo Vaughn added an RBI single. Vaughn also singled in a run in the seventh. BLUE JAYS 6, MARINERS 5 Darnell Coles tripled home the go-ahead run in the eighth inning as Toronto beat visiting Seattle. Reliever Danny Cox (1-0) was the winner despite giving up Omar Vizquel's first career grand slam and first home run since Aug.

19, 1991. WHITE SOX 4, TWINS 0 Alex Fernandez pitched a three-hittfer at Chicago, leading the White Sox to their victory over Minnesota. Fernandez (2-0) defeated Pat Mahomes (0-2) for a second time this season. He also was the winner in a 9-4 decision over Mahomes last Thursday in the Metrodome. Streaking NATCHITOCHES The Northwestern State Demons, the hottost college baseball team in Louisiana, will go for their ninth conspcutive win tonight as they playrhost to Louisiana Tech at 7 p.m at NSU's Brown Stroud Field.

The red-hot Demons (27-9) have won twelve of their last fourteen, including their last six Southland Conference games to led the league at 12-3. The Bulldogs (11-17) have put together a four-game winning streak with a three-game Sun Belt sweep of Texas-Pan-American this past The Demons, who started their' current win streak with a 18-11 win against the Bulldogs in Ruston, are 11-2 against Louisiana schools, including a 6-5 win tver No. 5 ranked LSU last Tuesday in Alexandria. Northwestern leads the Southland Conference in hitting at The Demons are led at the plate by All-America candidate Kyle Shade. Shade is hitting 3 homers and 29 RBI.

The Bulldogs are hitting .245, led by Travis Krause with a .349 average and 8 RBI. In the first meeting the two teams combined for 27 runs on 31 hits. The Demons scored four runs in the second inning as Marco Guajardo hit his second grand slam of the season. Relief pitcher Lee Smith pitches a scoreless Inning to preserve St. Louis' victory over Los Angeles on Tuesday.

likely Smith would get his second chance at his third save of the season. Mike Perez blanked the Dodgers in the seventh and eighth innings and Tom Pagnozzi hit a two-out solo homer in the top of the ninth to give Smith and the Cardinals a two-run lead. Smith retired Jody Reed on a fly to left field before Eric Davis reached base on an error by third baseman Todd Zeile. Dar-ryl Strawberry then flied to left, but Eric Karros drew a walk. By JOHN NADEL The Associated Press LOS ANGELES Lee Smith is baseball's all-time saves leader, for now.

Smith broke a tie with Jeff Reardon with his 358th save Tuesday, pitching one scoreless inning that preserved St j'xmis' 9- 7 victory over the Los Alleles Dodgers. "I'm 35, I don't know how many pitches I've got left," Smith said. "I came out ahead today, that's a good feeling." "I'm not in the game to set records; I want to pitch in World Series, hopefully this year," he said. Smith, who is from Jamestown, and who played basketball at Northwestern Louisiana State, had a chance to break the tie with Reardon on Saturday night, but allowed the tying run in the ninth inning of what turned out to be a 2-1, 10- inning victory by the Cardinals over the Cincinnati Reds. Reardon is a reliever with the Reds, although he's in a setup role and may not get many save opportunities.

The race between Smith and Reardon is somewhat similar to what Nolan Ryan and Steve Carlton went through in the early 1980s for the career strikeout lead. Ryan and Carlton took turns passing each other for a month or so before Ryan pulled away for good. Once Gerald Perry hit a three-run pinch-homer in the seventh inning to give the Cardinals an 8-7 lead, it seemed NLU TOPS GENTS Northeast Louisiana ended Centenary College's five-game winning streak with a 9-3 victory against the Gents at NLU's Indian Field. Jon Stencel, Richard Campbell and Vic Vicknair combined for a three-hitter and right fielder Steven Bourgeois went 2-for-4 with a home run and 4 RBI to lead the Indians. Centenary (18-17) led 3-2 when NLU exploded for four runs in the bottom of the sev-neth.

Northeast exploded for four runs in the bottom of the seventh. Todd Gray tied the game with an RBI single and Bourgeois put Northeast ahead for good with a sacrifice fly to center. Third baseman Wade Walker knocked in the Indians' other two runs with a with a base hit to center field to make it 6-3 before Bourgeois gave Northeast three insurance runs with his home run in the seventh. The Gents (18-17) scored once in the second as first baseman Brett McCabe doubled and scored on a ground-out by left fielder B.J. Pasquel.

Northeast (5 20-1) tied the game at 1-1 in the fourth as Christian McCarter knocked in Bourgeois with a base hit off of Gent starter Carter Maw. IMSU to test Tech CAPTAINS REPORT AP LaserPhoto Davis and pinch runner Tom Goodwin pulled off a double steal on Smith's first pitch to Tim Wallach, putting the tying run in scoring position. But Smith retired Wallach on a fly to right to end the game. "I was a little nervous before I went out there," Smith said. "I was overthrowing a little bit.

Once I got out there, I forgot everything." "I played a couple years with Jody (in Boston). I thought, 'Hey, this is like pitching batting He's a tough out, back because of the off day. Cline said one of the reasons for pushing Griffiths back fact that Brian joined us late and we get a chance to work with him as the fifth starter when we need him." After using the same lineup in the first three games, Captains manager Ron Wotus shuffled his lineup some Tuesday night. Catcher Dan Fernandez played for the first time this season. He started in place of Roger Miller.

Kevin Kasper, who has been used as a pinch-hitter and late-inning replacement, started in place of Matt Davis at third base. The Captains began the season with six relievers. Going into Tuesday night's game, the Captains had used every reliever except Johnny Ard. "I would expect that it wouldn't be too much longer before we used him," Cline said. The Captains travel to Jackson tonight to face the Generals in a five-game series.

Salomon Torres (1 -0) will face Jackson's Jim Bruske in tonight's 7:05 game in Smith-Wills Stadium. The game will be broadcast on KEEL radio (710 AM). Tech will seeking revenge for the 18-9 loss in Ruston. The Bulldogs may finally be rounding into the team that head coach Mike Kane thought they would be when the season started. Tech got itself back into the Sun Belt West Division race with a three-game sweep of Texas-Pan American.

The sweep evened the Bulldog SBC mark at 5-5, just one game in back of division co-leaders USL, New Orleans and Lamar. "This weekend was exactly what we needed," Kane said of the three-game sweep. "We are now in position to decide our own fate and if we continue to play well we will be there come tournament time." Tech's lineup has produced 46 runs in its last six games. Swinging the hottest bats are first baseman Charlie Jones who leads the Sun Belt in homeruns (eight) and RBI (26) rightfielder Travis Krause (.349) and second basebaman Troy Fowlkes who went 5-for-10 with five runs scored and five stolen bases against the Broncs. With another conference series this weekend, at USL, Kane cannot afford to use any of his three top line starting pitchers for this one so he will instead use a group of pitchers who have seen most of their action out of the bullpen.

It's still early and the Texas League stats reflect it. Arkansas' Paul Ellis is batting .556 and he is only third best in the league. Billy Lott of San Antonio leads the league at .588. First baseman Barry Miller leads Shreveport at .462. Arkansas' John Kelly leads the league in saves with two.

Shreveport's Lou Pote is one of 10 players atop the league earned run stats at 0.00. The Captains and Travelers are among the leaders in pitching and near the bottom in hitting. Arkansas is second in the league with a 3.46 ERA. Shreveport is fourth at 4.00. The Travelers are sixth in hitting at .250 and the Captains are seventh at .232.

Salomon Torres, who won the opener for the Captains, will pitch tonight's series opener in Jackson. The rest of the series rotation is almost decided. "Salomon and then Chris (Hancock) and then we may use (Lou) Pote, (Joe) Rosselli and Brian Griffiths," Captains pitching coach Steve Cline said. "The only change might be Griffiths sliding in before Pote and Rosselli." The Captains' off day Sunday caused some changes in the team's pitching plans. Griffiths' first start with the team was pushed.