LaForest powers Bulls over

SkyChiefs with home run in ninth

Pete LaForest hit a solo home run in the ninth inning to lift the Durham Bulls to a 7-6 win over the Syracuse SkyChiefs in the International League Wednesday night.

Durham manager and third-base coach Bill Evers gave designated hitter LaForest the green light on a 3-0 pitch and he pounded the next pitch from Syracuse closer Matt Whiteside (0-2) into the Durham bullpen beyond the left field fence.

B.J. Upton put the Bulls on the board with a solo homer in the first off Syracuse starter Francisco Rosario.

Syracuse tied the game in the second when Chad Mottola reached on an error and eventually scored on a groundout by Joe Depastino.

In the fourth, the teams each scored five runs.

Jeff Deardorff started the barrage with a triple off the center field wall and scored on a double by Kevin Cash, who had four hits in the game.

Paul Hoover kept the inning going for Durham (25-29) when he was hit by a pitch and Brooks Badeaux reached on a fielder's choice. Joey Gathright loaded the bases with a walk and all three scored on a double to the gap in right by Reggie Taylor. Taylor scored on single to center by Upton.

Gabe Gross delivered a one-out single for Syracuse (22-30) in the fifth. Depastino walked and Gross scored on a single by Jason Alfaro. Anton French reached on catcher's interference by Cash. Bryant Nelson and John Hattig followed as each hit two-run singles to tie the game at 6-6.

Franklin Nunez (1-0) earned the win in relief and Joe Nelson had the save.

GOLF: Herbert Warren Wind, a longtime writer for the New Yorker and Sports Illustrated who coined the term "Amen Corner" for the 11th, 12th and 13th holes at Augusta National at the Masters tournament, has died at 88, but he leaves behind some of sportswriting's most elegant prose about golf.

Wind's lasting legacy may be his choice of names for the three holes at the south end of Augusta National, where Rae's Creek flows at the back of the 11th green and in front of the 12th and 13th greens.

Warren described the three holes as Amen Corner in the April 21, 1958 edition of Sports Illustrated, borrowing the name of an old Bluebird label jazz recording "Shouting at Amen Corner" by a band under the direction of Milton "Mezz" Mezzrow, a Chicago clarinetist.

NBA: NBA labor talks stalled Wednesday after a 2.5-hour meeting in New York, less than a month before a lockout would begin.

"All I can say is that we had a meeting, and we don't have anything else scheduled," NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said.

Players association director Billy Hunter said he outlined a new proposal, then offered to extend the terms of the current seven-year agreement that expires June 30. The league turned both offers down.

"It's definitely fair to say the talks have stalled," Hunter said. "They are seeking more concessions off the current deal, and we contend we made major concessions in the last collective bargaining agreement."

Hunter attended the meeting with union president Michael Curry, secretary-treasurer Pat Garrity and five members of the union's staff. The owners were represented by Granik, commissioner David Stern and four staff members from the league office staff, Hunter said.

Among the issue the sides have failed to reach agreement on are the maximum length of long-term contracts, the size of the annual raises available in those contracts and a possible increase in the minimum age.

"We've tried our best to reach out to them and address their concerns," Garrity said.

Stern has said the owners have offered to guarantee that the players receive a 57 percent share of revenues, would raise the salary cap three percentage points -- from 48 to 51 percent of revenues -- and minimize the level at which the luxury tax clicks in, making more money available for salaries.

A lockout would likely begin July 1 if the sides fail to reach an agreement. The league imposed a lockout in July 1998, after the previous deal expired, and the work stoppage lasted 7.5 months.