November 4, 2001

Heredia Leads Cats to Victory With Arm, Bat

SOUTH CAROLINA - Gil Heredia played the game of his career today, allowing two runs
through six innings on the mound and hitting a three-run homer at the plate, leading
his team to a convincing 8-2 victory as the South Carolina Sea Cats attempt to crawl
back into this Division Series.

The Sea Cats offense, frustrated by Akron's duel aces Pedro Martinez and Tim Hudson
in the first two games of this series, finally managed to bust loose against Akron
starter Woody Williams.  With two outs in the second inning, Warren Morris singled,
advancing Mitch Meluskey to second.  That set the stage for Heredia's three-run blast
that shook Fleetwood Walker Memorial to its foundation.

Jim Edmonds then led off the next inning with another blast, giving the Sea Cats a
4-0 lead.  The next inning, Williams issued a walk to Edmonds with the bases loaded,
giving South Carolina another run.

Akron added a pair of solo homers in the fifth (Denny Hocking) and sixth (Jay Buhner),
but Mike Sweeney got both of those runs back with a two-run blast off Nelson Cruz in
the sixth.  That gave the Sea Cats an 8-2 lead, good enough for a win in this hard-
fought series.