The Press Democrat from Santa Rosa, California • 51

"Thf Press Democrat, Tuesday. May 7. 1C ports Giants end a drought on a rainy day By ALAN ROBINSON the bottom of the eighth. grounder to make it 6-3. "I'm not swinging the bat that well.

he threw the ball and it hit my bat," said Thompson, who matched his season's RBI total of two with the hit "I haven't felt comfortable at the plate all year." Bill Laskey, 1-3, went five innings for the victory before being lifted for a pinch hitter. After the Pirates touched Greg Minton for two runs In the seventh, Mark Davis came on to work two Innings before being replaced by Scott Garrelts with runners and second and third and two out in the Pirates' ninth. Garrelts, who like DeLeon and Davis suffered through a miserable 1984 season, got Bill Madlock to pop out to earn his second save. "If you have brought me into this game last year, I would have been timid. This year I've changed and I feel comfortable," Garrelts said.

"I want to get Into the game; last year, I didn't I just went to the ballpark to show up." Lee Mazzllll's run-scoring pinch-single and Johnny Ray's opposite-field RBI double to left enabled the Pirates to close to 6-5 In the seventh before Davis got Jason Thompson to line out with two runners on to get out of further trouble. Brenly pve the Giants their final run with an eighth-inning home run, his third of the season. San Francisco took a 2-0 lead in the fourth on Chill Davis' RBI double and Brown's run-scoring Infield single before George Hendrick doubled and scored on a single by Pena in the Pirates' half of the inning. Pittsburgh took a 3-2 lead in the fifth on Joe Orsulak's sacrifice bunt and an RBI single by Ray. AJMdat Press PITTSBURGH Jose DeLeon has discovered that the only thing worse for him than pitching from behind Is pitching while he's ahead.

DeLeon, 0-5, struck out nine San Francisco Giants In Ave Innings and was presented with a 3-2 lead In the fifth the first time the Pittsburgh Pirates have given him a lead this season before he suddenly went walking three while allowing five consecutive batters to reach base in the sixth inning. The Giants went on to score four runs, thanks In part to Scot Thompson's two-run pinch single, as San Francisco ended a six-game losing streak in Three Rivers Stadium by winning there for the first time since July 23, 1983. The game was delayed for 4 minutes by rain in "Jose has all the stuff in the world you have to in order to strike out nine In five innings but be got a lead and he was too fine, too tentative," said Pirates Manager Chuck Tanner. "I finally get a lead and there It goes without anybody even hitting the ball," said DeLeon, who has lost 14 of his last IS decisions, including a nine-game losing streak last season. Chili Davis walked but was picked off first in the sixth by catcher Tony Pena before DeLeon walked Gary Rajsich and Bob Brenly around Chris Brown's Infield single to load the bases.

Jose Urlbe singled home Rajsich before Thompson, batting only .139, greeted reliever Cecllio Guante with his two-run single to right Urlbe scored on Dan Gladden's rrziTs.zJ-"v i '-17 STwr 7sL' i Jeff Lee to win the North Bay League championship Monday and will move on to the North Coast Section tournament later this month in Danville. Prep sports, page 2C. Half of a champion That's not meant as well, backhanded compliment, either. Torin Schultz and the other half of the Rancho Cotate number one doubles team, Ramon Lasurt, combined Magnusson helps the Dragons 'do it now' PrepsPlus By GABRIEL DA VILA The Sonoma High School baseball team is the least experienced in the Sonoma County League, but the young Dragons, led by their hulk of a catcher, Brett Magnusson, have a chance to win the title. Coach Bob McAllister has seven underclassmen in his starting lineup, but as he says, "If they can play now, then let them play.

We're in a position we thought we'd be in next year. Heck, let's do it now." The Dragons, whom Piner batting star Toby Vaughn called "the sleeper in. the Sonoma County League race" when the season began, are tied for first place with Piner at 9-4. Analy, 8-5, is just a game behind. While Sonoma plays at home against El Molino this afternoon Analy will be playing Piner.

Something, as they say, has to give. Thus, it is the Dragons who appear to have the upper hand. Or do they? If they survive today, they'll windup the season Thursday with Casa Grande, the SCL's early season leader. The Gauchos are out of the race but, as McAllister says, like most of the teams in the Redwood Empire this year, they have two or three quality players enough to make trouble. In the Gauchos' case, it is pitcher-catcher Rick Dardis and the solid batsman, years," the coach said.

"For his size, he is very quick. He has an exceptionally quick bat. He's one of the few people who's going to get the opportunity to play after high school." Magnusson, a junior, has been Sonoma's starting catcher since his freshman year. Although Magnusson missed all but four SCL games as a freshman, McAllister believes he still should've made all-league. "Every SCL coach said he was dominant player at his position, but he only played four league games," McAllister said.

"I think if you're the best player, you should be all-league. Every year we have something like this. One year we were voting the team and one coach says, 'Hey, we need some seniors on the And I had three or four juniors who possibly could've been all-league. I got over it. It's just one of those things.

But Brett Magnusson, they all have the highest respect for him. And he's not only a good ballplayer, he's an outstanding gentleman." And a straight shooter. Did you spend any time thinking about the week's upcoming games? "Not really." Are you surprised at the team's success this year? "Not really." Steve Madrid. But that's Thursday. Today is today, and as that prophet from the East, Yogi Ber-ra, says, "It's never over 'til it's over." McAllister, alluding to the SCL race, concurs.

"Yogi's right." "There are a lot of good players in the area this year," McAllister said. He may have the best one in Magnusson, a 17-year-old bull of a catcher at 5-foot-10 and 210 pounds. He was an all-SCL running back and linebacker for Sonoma, and he's just as impressive on the baseball field. Magnusson has hit four home runs (five for the season) in SCL play and over those 13 league games he has a batting average of .432. By his numbers, no one has given Magnusson too much trouble.

"They usually don't give me a chance to hit," Magnusson said Sunday night He's walked 18 times in league play, seven of them intentionally. McAllister, needless to say, is a fan of Magnusson. "He's probably one of the top prospects to come out of the Redwood Empire in the last 10 Mary Carroll Brett Magnusson is a big reason for Sonoma High's success in baseball. baseman Greg Steen, Powell scoring on the play. San Jose added a run off Reed in the eighth.

Belgee Falkner tripled to left center, his second triple of the afternoon, and scored on a wild pitch. Brian Hartsock singled and doubled to raise his team-leading batting average to .348. He has five doubles in his last four games. The loss was Redwood's 10th in 13 games and came against the Pioneers' nearest challenger for the California League Northern Division cellar. The Pioneers are 10-17 and San Jose 10-13.

It's snake eyes for Pioneers pitchers again The Pioneers, who were two-hit in Reno Sunday, are 1-6 on the trip with two games remaining against San Jose tonight and Wednesday (KTOB Radio at Reed worked eight innings and turned in the first complete-game by a Pioneer pitcher. Akemi Gotoh, one of several players on loan to the Bees from Japanese major-league clubs, also went eight innings for the victory. Tim Hill drove in the winning run with an infield ground out. Following Robles' homer, his second in as many days, Alonzo Powell doubled off the left-center field wall and was sacrificed to third by shortstop Seiji Tomashi-no. Hill then grounded to Pioneer second SAN JOSE The number of hard-luck pitchers on the Redwood Pioneer staff seems to grow game-by-game, but left-hander Marty Reed is working his way to the top of the list.

Reed's record fell to 0-5 Monday afternoon as San Jose Bees first baseman Greg Robles homered in the seventh inning to break up a tie game and lead the Bees to a 5-3 win over the Pioneers in a contest. Reed, a lefthander from the University of Tampa, got off to a shaky start this season but has pitched well in recent outings. Pioneer batters haven't given him much support, however, a trend apparent throughout their current nine-game road trip..