Baysox

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- The Bowie Baysox's final shred of playoff hope dissipated last night when the Harrisburg Senators came from behind for a 4-2 Eastern League victory at Riverside Stadium.A two-out Harrisburg rally in the seventh inning knocked Bowie out of the postseason picture for the first time in the franchise's three-year existence.Singles by Tony Marabella and Bruce Chick launched the uprising against Baysox starter Doug Harris (3-5), a native of nearby Carlisle. Jon Saffer then sliced an opposite-field double into the left-field corner, scoring both runners.

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. -- Edgar Alfonzo's two-run single capped a three-run first inning, and Scott Klingenbeck pitched one-hit ball for seven innings to lead the Bowie Baysox past the New Britain Red Sox, 5-1, in Double-A Eastern League action last night.Curtis Goodwin opened with a single, moved to second on a sacrifice fly and scored on a fielding error for a 1-0 lead. T. R. Lewis reached on the error that scored Goodwin, and Jack Voigt singled to set up Alfonzo's hit.Bowie scored single runs in the fourth and seventh innings.

BOWIE -- Two thousand free souvenir baseball caps went in about an hour that afternoon last August. The crowd kept coming: children and their parents lining up at Rip's Restaurant for a brush with sports celebrity. Not Cal Ripken, not Mike Devereaux or even Jeff Tackett, but members of the Baysox.That's the Bowie Baysox. As in minor league baseball, Double A, as in a bunch of guys in their early 20s, each making about $1,500 a month to pursue at best a one-in-five shot of making the majors.

BOWIE -- Danny Clyburn became the first Bowie player to drive in four runs in a game this season, hitting two home runs to lead the Baysox past the Trenton Thunder, 5-3, yesterday afternoon.It was the opener of an Eastern League day-night doubleheader that sent the Southern Division-leading Thunder (39-26) against the last-place Baysox (28-39). The game was halted by rain for one hour.In the nightcap, Keith Gordon of Olney hit a two-run homer in the sixth inning to lead Bowie to a 5-1 win. Calvin Maduro pitched his fourth complete game of the season.

BOWIE -- Gov. Parris N. Glendening participated in the pre-game ceremonies and signed autographs. Fireworks soared TTC into the twilight. White pigeons were released and circled Prince George's County Stadium.But the Bowie Baysox were more like the National Guard parachutists who were denied permission to land before the home opener last night.They never really showed up and absorbed a 7-3 defeat to a Norwich Navigators team playing its first Eastern League game.Bowie starter Garrett Stephenson and his first reliever, Charles Devereux, were rocked for three home runs, enabling the Navigators to end this one early.

Rick Krivda has twice pitched excellent baseball this season against the Harrisburg Senators, leaders of the Double-A Eastern League.He still hasn't found a way to beat them.Last night, the Bowie Baysox left-hander gave up two first-inning runs, one of them unearned, then settled down to shut out the league's most dangerous offensive club for the next seven innings.The damage was irreversible, however, as Harrisburg left-hander Kirk Reuter blanked the Baysox for a 2-0 victory before 1,133 at Memorial Stadium.

The Bowie Baysox announced yesterday that former Orioles outfielder Al Bumbry will join manager Pete Mackanin's coaching staff for the 1994 season.Bumbry, who recently was released from the major-league coaching staff of the Boston Red Sox, was considered a candidate for the Orioles major-league staff, but that opening went to Don Buford.The Orioles might have chosen Bumbry if first-base coach Davey Lopes had left for a managerial position, but apparently felt there would be some redundancy with both Lopes and Bumbry on the staff.

HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Nothing came easily for the Bowie Baysox all weekend, but a large dose of perseverance enabled them to salvage a consolation prize.After squandering a three-run lead in the eighth inning yesterday, the Baysox shoved home the tying and winning runs on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly and edged Harrisburg, 6-5, in the 10-inning finale of a three-game series at RiverSide Stadium.A crowd of 4,041 watching in near-perfect weather was thinking sweep when the Senators teed off on reliever Tommy Taylor with a four-run splurge to capture a 5-4 lead entering the ninth.

After hitting .341 as a team in the previous 10 games, the Bowie Baysox ran into an offensive drought just in time for a doubleheader last night.So, manager Don Buford decided that the squeeze play was the proper remedy and the Baysox salvaged a 2-1 victory in the nightcap after losing to the Binghamton Mets, 4-0."We weren't swinging the bats well, so we had to go to something else," said Buford. "We got the first squeeze man in all right and then tried to do it again for the winning run."

The Bowie Baysox's Jose Mercedes is regarded as one of the finest pitching prospects in the Orioles' organization, but lately he just can't seem to last through prosperous times.For the fourth straight start last night, Mercedes was given a three-run lead and for the fourth straight start he couldn't hold it.The Canton-Akron Indians came from behind with six runs in the middle innings and handed Mercedes and the Baysox an 8-3 loss before 5,380 fans at Memorial Stadium.It was a costly Double-A Eastern League defeat for Bowie (34-28)