CHESAPEAKE Matthew Shepherd's family contends that three black men, including one with a metal pole, attacked him one night last year in Western Branch. Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Stephanie Johnson argued Shepherd was the drunken instigator of a hate crime, yelling racial slurs while assaulting a couple of strangers. The incident occurred Sept. 24 outside a

ALLENTOWN, Pa. Norfolk jumped to a 4-0 first-inning lead, but Lehigh Valley took advantage of wildness from Tides pitching to rally for an 8-7 win Wednesday night. The loss was the Tides' ninth in a row.

Lehigh Valley scored early and often Tuesday night, cruising to a 7-0 victory against visiting Norfolk in the first of a four-game series at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, Pa.

The Pawtucket Red Sox scored nine runs in the first three innings, then cruised to a 9-6 victory Monday, completing a four-game home sweep and handing the Norfolk Tides their seventh straight loss.

Staff report Jeff Bailey hit a three-run homer and added a two-run double to help Pawtucket overcome a four-run deficit Sunday and top the Norfolk Tides 8-5 at McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, R.I. Norfolk (13-23) jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the third inning on RBI singles by Brandon Fahey and Scott Moore and a two-run double by Oscar Salazar.

George Kottaras hit a three-run home run in the fifth inning Saturday, helping the Pawtucket Red Sox beat the Norfolk Tides 4-2 in the first game of a doubleheader in Pawtucket, R.I. Both games in the doubleheader were seven innings. The second game was not complete at press time. Kottaras' blast, which broke a 1-1 tie, came off Tides starter Radhames Liz (0-4), who pitched a complete game.

Friday's scheduled International League game between the Norfolk Tides and Pawtucket Red Sox was rained out. The teams will play two seven-inning games at 6:05 tonight at Pawtucket's McCoy Stadium. Righthander Radhames Liz (0-3, 5.35 ERA) starts for Norfolk in the opener against former American League Cy Young Award winner Bartolo Colon (1-0, 0.00).

OSCAR SALAZAR STEPPED into the batter's box in the bottom of the ninth inning, his team down by one run with two runners on base. After trailing 6-2 at one point, the Tides had whittled their deficit to 8-7. But Salazar grounded out against Bats reliever Gary Majewski to end the game. The Bats scored the bulk of their runs in the fifth inning, when Andy Phillips hit a grand slam. Starting bad

FOR THE SECOND NIGHT in a row, Louisville feasted on Tides pitching. This time it was Craig Anderson who had an abbreviated outing and was tagged with the loss. Anderson gave up 11 hits and eight earned runs before being pulled in the fourth inning. Meanwhile, Louisville starter Matt Maloney had one of his best performances of the season, yielding only two runs over seven innings.

HAYDEN PENN WASN’T exactly efficient Monday night, but he was effective. He pitched five strong innings in Norfolk’s 4-1 victory against Louisville at Harbor Park. Tike Redman’s RBI single broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning and the Tides cobbled together enough offense to hand Louisville starter Homer Bailey his third loss.