Sacrifice Fly

NEW YORK - When Orioles first baseman David Segui hit his first home run of the season last night, he made it count. Segui led off the eighth inning with a game-tying home run off New York Yankees reliever Ramiro Mendoza, and the Orioles rallied for a 5-4 victory before 33,721 at Yankee Stadium. Rick Bauer (1-0) earned his first major-league win after being recalled from Triple-A Rochester earlier in the day. Mendoza (0-1) took the loss. Jorge Julio recorded the final five outs for his first major-league save.

They scored a go-ahead run on a strikeout, avoided a potentially ruinous rally on a line drive that hit a runner, and finally won in the bottom of the ninth inning on Fernando Lunar's sacrifice fly to second base. The Orioles did all of those things to beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-2, before an announced crowd of 41,959 at Camden Yards. And Cal Ripken bunted twice. Just as unusual as pinch runner Brady Anderson tagging from third base for the winning run against retreating Twins second baseman Luis Rivas, Ripken's two bunt attempts - once mistakenly on a 3-1 count and another against a left-handed pitcher - confirmed what was already known to be a shifting role.

Rating the players **** Melvin Mora: Now ranks second behind Mike Kinkade with three homers. Jeff Conine: Could have had four RBIs if not for a questionable scoring decision. Gladly settles for three. Calvin Maduro: He refuses to go away. *** Brook Fordyce: Two hits and an RBI. ** John Bale: Fading from the picture. Lefties were hitting him hard, which isn't good. * Jorge Julio: Throwing hard not always enough. The ball was coming back at him even faster. The arms Bale went four innings in his first spring start, allowing two runs and six hits, walking none and striking out four.

Rating the players **** Jason Johnson: The Orioles won't say it, so we will: He's in the rotation. Willie Harris: Drives in the winning run in the ninth during another cameo appearance. He's young, but he already understands the importance of keeping exhibition games from going extra innings. He's been taught well. Mike Trombley: Two strikeouts in his only inning, and gets credited with the win. *** Brady Anderson: He's producing from the leadoff spot and running very well. Anderson's fewer than two weeks away from making it through a spring training without an injury.

It isn't often that two pitchers each throw fewer than 80 pitches in the same seven-inning game, but it happened yesterday in Millersville, as top-ranked Arundel escaped with a 1-0 victory over No. 11 Old Mill. Both perennial Anne Arundel County powers were coming off losses Monday, and an unearned run was all that separated Arundel junior ace Chip Ziegler and Old Mill junior left-hander Steve Johnson, who took a no-hitter into the seventh inning. Neither pitcher deserved to lose in what was a game that the baseball purists love to watch, but one that those who like hitting and scoring deplore.

The roost atop the Central Maryland Conference softball standings just got a bit more crowded. In a matchup between the top two teams in the conference, senior shortstop JoAnnah Jennings' sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh inning was all visiting Westminster needed to upend ninth-ranked North Carroll, 2-1, yesterday in Hampstead. With the victory, the Owls (6-2 overall, 5-1 conference) moved up to share the conference lead with the Panthers (7-1, 5-1). The loss also prevented North Carroll from winning its eighth consecutive game.

Howard couldn't stop Glenelg's No. 1 and 2 hitters, Lauren Koutrelakos and Nicole Barnoski, respectively, from reaching base yesterday. They combined for seven of the Gladiators' 12 hits, as surprising Glenelg outlasted the visiting Lions, 9-6. Koutrelakos, a 5-foot junior shortstop who won the county pole vault title in indoor track, had two doubles, a single and walked once. Barnoski, a senior catcher, knocked home Koutrelakos four times with a double and three singles. "That's a nice combination," said Howard coach Dave Vezzi, whose team had a 4-1 lead after an inning and a half.

Highlights and lowlights from the Orioles' 8-2 victory over a Montreal Expos split squad in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. UP -- Brady Anderson: Another start in center. Club keeping its fingers crossed. UP -- Albert Belle: Reaches base four times, swipes two of them. UP -- Bullpen: Three relievers, three scoreless innings. UP -- Harold Baines: His average is up to .390. Opening Day can't come soon enough. DOWN -- Cal Ripken: His 0-for-3 included double-play grounder with bases loaded and none out. UP -- Mike Bordick: Gets two hits from the nine hole.

When Perry Hall's Chris Pike took the mound against visiting Patapsco yesterday, the senior right-hander thought back to last year's game. That was the game when his teammates committed seven errors en route to a six-run loss that was part of a 1-6 start for the eventual 4A state runner-up. Pike's start was not an auspicious one yesterday, but the finish was, as the No. 6 Gators defeated the 10th-ranked Patriots, 6-2, on a blustery day and a muddy field. Perry Hall is now 3-0 overall and 1-0 in Baltimore County's Division I. Pike also went 3-for-3, with his final hit leading to the game-winning run, and pitched a complete-game two-hitter, striking out seven, walking six and escaping a couple of jams along the way to improve his pitching record to 2-0. "My curveball was working real well, probably helped by the wind," Pike said.