Johnson City Press from Johnson City, Tennessee • 29

Johnson City Press 1 i't l6Mf VO i SECTION 07 US)' Pages 29-36 af Wimbledon By Rick Warner AP Tennis Writer WIMBLEDON England In 17 trips to Wimbledon Jimmy Connors has played on grass courts that looked like putting greens and others that resembled sand traps The one he played on Tuesday acted more like a trampoline and it helped bounce the two-time champion out of the tournament The 35-year-old American hurdled a match point In the fourth set before falling to hard-hitting Patrick Kuhnen a 22-year-old ranked seventh in West Germany and 90th in the world Kuhnen moved into the quarterfinals with a 5-7 7-6 7-6 6-7 6-3 victory in a match that was halted by rain and darkness Monday at 6-6 in the third set The match was played on Court No 2 which has been chqwed up by dry conditions and constant use It was on the same court and in the same round that Connors was dethroned as champion in 1983 by Kevin Curren who blasted his way to victory with 33 aces "I dont mind going out there if I have a chance to hit the ball said Connors the fifth seed 'One hit me in the face one bounced over my head and one rolled along the court All you want is a little consistency If I knew they were all going to roll it would be OK Asked if Wimbledon should consider swapping its grass courts for another surface as the US and Australian Opens have done Connors was noncommital "I dont think theyd ever change here he said "It depends what you think tennis should be played like If you think tennis is a serve-and-volley game hit and miss then keep it' If youve come to know tennis as something else then dont keep it It was only the third time Connors has failed to make the quarterfinals at Wimbledon It was also -the first five-set loss for Connors here since 1981 when he lost to Bjorn Borg in the semifinals 1 played perfect tennis the last three games said Kuhnen who won 14 of the last 15 points "But he never gives up Hes the biggest fighter in the game Also advancing to the quarterfinals were two-time champion Boris Becker and lOth-seeded Tim Mayotte tne only American man left in the singles competition Becker beat American Paul Anna-cone 6-3 6-4 6-4 while Mayotte downed No 7 Henri Leconte of France 6-4 7-6 4-6 6-2 In womens play old rivals Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova advanced in straight sets on a cold wet day on which play was delayed five hours by a steady drizzle Fifty-six matches were postponed because of the weather but all of the Please see WIMBLEDON Page 36 Cardinals roll over Bluefield By Jimmy Smyth Press Executive Sports Editor BLUEFIELD WVa Johnson City took charge early scoring eight runs in the first three innings and defeated Bluefield 8-3 Tuesday night at Bowen Field The victory was the fourth straight on the road for the Cardinals who return home to open a two-night stand against Northern Division leader Burlington tonight at Howard Johnson Field Gametime is 7 pm Catcher John Kroegers three-run homer over the center-field wall sparked the five-run Cardinal third Dan Shannons double singles by Greg Carmona and Jeff Shire-man and three Bluefield errors provided an early 3-0 advantage the three-hour and five-minute game The Cardinals had beaten Princeton twice in Saturday and Sunday games before turning back the Orioles 7-3 Monday and taking a repeat victory Tuesday "Our hitting is getting better Cardinal manager Jorge Aran-zimendi said "Weve worked on getting our batters to shorten their swings and learn how to use the wooden bats Kroeger said the instruction hes been getting "has helped me a lot Hub (Kittle) and Jorge (Aranzamenndi) saw the flaws in my swing and corrected them Kroeger 22-year-old native of Paraippani said the home run his first in professional hall came on a curve ball Kroeger doubled down the left-field line in the second inning but was left on base His third inning homer drove in Bill Decker and Emilio Belbru In the sixth inning Oriole left-fielder Mark Twenty practically took the ball hit by Kroeger off the wall for the putout Then the former Fairleigh-Dickinson player singled to right-field Kroeger said hes "a couple of credits short from graduation adding "Ill be going back in the fall Shireman had consecutive singles in the first third and fourth innings "I feel good about my hitting how Shireman said "I hit 382 and 388 (at Georgia Southern) the last two years so I knew I could hit I got a slow start but were getting a lot of help Tonight really helped my confidence Aranzimendi commended both Kroeger and Shireman for their Please tee CARDS Page 36 Muh Twins shutout Princeton By Douglas Fritz Press Sports Writer ELIZABETHTON It took Steve Muh just two starts to figure out the difference between college and professional baseball The tall left-handed Elizabeth-ton Twins pitcher was roughed up by the Wytheville Cubs in his Appalachian League debut He tried Twins manager Ray Smith and Muh both said to overpower the Cubs Tuesday night at Joe OBrien Field Muh tried a little bit of finesse along with his fastball and the result: Muh smoked Princeton through seven innings and the Twins blasted the Pirates 12-0 Muh toyed with a no-hitter through 5 innings "I didnt even know about the no-hitter until (Kevin Korekes) got the first hit Muh said "Then someone told me it was the first hit But Muh did know he was in command on the mound "In college I was able to just overpower the hitters said Muh who hurled collegiately for the Georgia Bulldogs "I was just a thrower I learned early that I couldnt do that in the minors "I mainly had been relying on my fastball Tonight I set the hitters up with my slow curve and I got some strikeouts with the hard curve Smith was very impressed with Muh (pronounced Mew) "It usually takes a few outings to learn how to pitch here Smith said "(Muh) showed me a lot of character tonight He wasnt just throwing tonight" Muh allowed only one hit walked five and struck out eight to earn his first win He is 1-1 Franklin Garcia and Dom Roba-sio each pitched an inning to complete the shutout Plateside duties were taken care of by Loy McBride and Dean Tatarian Each player came up with a bases-loaded triple McBrides came in the second to five the Twins a 5-0 lead and atarians came in the fourth extending Elizabethtons advantage to 10-0 "I saw some improvement in the team tonight Smith said "I was beginning to wonder when they were going to break loose McBride finished with three hits in five trips to the plate while Tatarian was l-for-3 with two runs scored William Mota and Chris Martin also had multi-hit games Mota was 2-for-4 with two RBI (including the game winner in the second inning) and Martin Please see TWINS Page 36 i Clawson testifies i in Buoniconti trial Little competition remains for Tyson By Bruce Smith I Associated Press Writer CHARLESTON SC In emotional testimony Tuesday Citadel trainer Andy Clawson recalled that Marc Buoniconti whispering from his hospital bed absolved him of blame in the 1985 football accident which left Buoniconti paralyzed for life "He looked up and said it's not my fault" Clawson testified as his voice broke during testimony in Buonicontis $165 million negligence suit against The Citadel Clawson and team doctor EK Wallace Jr Clrfwson recalled for the jury in Charleston County Court of Common Pleas how several Citadel officials flew to Miami to see Buoniconti and bring him his jersey several weeks after the accident Buoniconti was still on a ventilator to aid his breathing and "we were all upset ClawBon said "It was a very emotional time for me Marc and his mom Buoniconti the son of former Miami Dolphins star Nick Buoniconti was the starting middle linebacker for The Citadel when he broke his neck while making a tackle during an Oct 26 1985 game at East Tennessee State He was left a quadriplegic by the accident The lawsuit alleges the defendants were negligent in treating a neck sprain Buoniconti suffered several weeks before It also charges they failed to warn Buoniconti when he enrolled at the schools that a congenital neck condition made it danger-ous for him to continue playing football The defendants counter Buoniconti was responsible for the injury because he illegally speared the opposing running back hit-Please sea TRIAL Page 31 Englands Frank Bruno in London on Sept 3 but even that fight is up in the air while Tvson wages a different kind of battle in the courtroom against manager Bill Cayton Cayton was served with a suit filed by Tyson only minutes before the fight began and after the bout Tyson hinted he may retire rather than fight again with Cayton as his manager ''Who knows what I'm going to do Tyson said "Im just going to go away for awhile and think about it Tvson confidant Jose Torres said however that Tyson who turns 22 on Thursday has no thoughts of retiring "Thats bull" Torres said Tuesday "Hes going to fight Sept 3 I'm positive Tysons suit part of a battle being waged over control of the Please see FIGHT Pegs 36 By Tim Dahlberg AP Sports Writer ATLANTIC CITY NJ Mike Tyson may have fought himself out of some big paydays with his devastating first-round knockout of Michael Spinks Tysons 91-second destruction of Spinks Monday night in a fight that may have grossed $70 million left little doubt of his total domination of the heavyweight division In fact Tyson has become so dominant that questions are being raised about who might be able to stand up to him in the ring "It may be difficult to find an opponent the general public will want to see said Mark Etess president of Trump Plaza ''Tysons marketability is now more difficult because it appears no one can give him a fight Tyson is tentatively set to fight i.