Erie

READING - Greg Kubes and three relief pitchers combined to hold Erie to seven hits last night as the Reading Phillies beat the SeaWolves, 3-2, in the Eastern League. Kubes (2-2) went the first six innings, allowing five hits and two runs, both unearned. Matt Baile pitched a scoreless inning, Todd Ozias went 1 1/3 innings and Mark Outlaw retired the final two batters to pick up his second save. Andy Vanhekken (0-2) took the loss, allowing six hits and three runs over 6 2/3 innings.

It took top-seeded Kara Schertzer of Erie 3 1/2 hours to beat second-seeded Christine DiNardo of Cora, Pa., and win the Middle States girls' 18-and-under tennis championship, 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3, yesterday at the Merion Cricket Club. DiNardo fought off two match points at 5-6 in the second set. After getting to match point in the ninth game of the third set, Schertzer won when DiNardo missed a forehand down the line. In the 16-and-under championship match, top-seeded Karin Miller, a 12-year- old from Trenton, won by 6-1, 6-0 over fifth-seeded Tricia Lehman of Conestoga High School.

The Erie Seawolves battered the Reading Phillies, 10-3, in the Eastern League last night to move 5 1/2 games ahead in the Southern Division race. The Seawolves scored four runs in the first inning on two singles, two walks by Reading starter Jason Kershner, and two errors. The Seawolves then scored five in the sixth inning on home runs by Rich Gomez, Ronnie Merrill and Eric Munson. Kershner, who went 5 2/3 innings, surrendered eight earned runs on nine hits. J.P. Roberge hit his 13th homer for Reading in the eighth inning.

MOOSIC, Pa. - The Syracuse SkyChiefs took advantage of two big Scranton/Wilkes-Barre errors last night to record a 5-2 win in the International League. Red Barons starter Gavin Floyd was the losing pitcher even though he did not allow an earned run. He gave up eight hits and two walks in seven innings, striking out four. Erie 11, Reading 7 ERIE, Pa. - The SeaWolves hit three home runs in a six-run seventh inning to down the Phillies in the Eastern League. Danny Gonzalez was 3 for 4 with two runs scored for Reading.

Only months after Gov. Ridge seemed to single-handedly chase German shipbuilder Meyer Werft from the Philadelphia Navy Yard, it looks like the governor is playing favorites with his old hometown. After being repeatedly blasted for what was called the loss of up to 4,000 jobs and a $500 million shot to Philly's economy, Ridge is proposing new state funds for shipbuilding - in Erie. Tucked away in the state budget that Ridge unveiled yesterday is a $500,000 item for improvements "to enhance the Port of Erie's shipbuilding ability.

Glen Mills fullback Maurice Williams opened his team's game against Monsignor Bonner Sept. 13 in an unfamiliar position - on the bench. Running backs are interchangeable parts on Ken Banks' team, and the Bulls coach decided to replace Williams with Mike George against Bonner. "Maurice was missing blocking assignments," Banks said. "He wasn't hitting the holes. He was running tentatively in our first two games. " Williams, a starter in the Bulls' first two contests, was a starter again against Erie Cathedral Prep Friday night.

For years, Theodore and Cheryl Branch struggled fruitlessly for prominence. This week, the couple from Erie had their fleeting moment in the public eye - but even that was laced with scorn. The attention came Tuesday, when a Soviet official summoned reporters to a news conference in Moscow to announce that a pair of American "mass- communication experts" had been granted "political asylum" in the Soviet Union. The Branches - both in their 40s - were not rocket scientists or nuclear physicists; he was a radio disc jockey and she his helper.

From a little college in the far northwest corner of the state come new measurements of something large: the impact of hard times on ordinary Pennsylvanians. In just their second year of polling, researchers at Mercyhurst College, a Catholic liberal arts school in Erie, came up with questions meant to gauge the recession's kitchen-table impact. The findings of the college's first statewide poll, to be published this week but made available Monday to The Inquirer, offer fresh evidence that the nation's economic crisis is hitting not just close to home but inside.

ALLENTOWN - The Indianapolis Indians got strong pitching from Sean Gallagher in shutting out the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 2-0, Tuesday night in an International League game. Erie 4, Reading 1 READING - The SeaWolves got off to a fast start, scoring three runs in the first en route to the victory over the Phillies in the Eastern League game. The R-Phils put just one run on the board in the third inning when Freddy Glavis scored from third base on a wild pitch.

One of Gov. Ridge's nominees to the state Supreme Court was technically part-owner of a failed company that left behind one of the state's worst hazardous-waste sites, a site whose cleanup will cost more than $11 million. William C. Sennett, an Erie lawyer and former state attorney general, said in an interview yesterday that he only provided a start-up legal service for Presque Isle Chemical Co. and had no role in its management. Sennett is to testify today before a Senate committee, as is D. Donald Jamieson, a Philadelphia lawyer.

ERIE, Pa. - A guidance counselor and track coach at a Western Pennsylvania Catholic school has been suspended without pay for two weeks after he sent the student body an insulting e-mail criticizing the lack of fan support at a recent basketball game. Chet Moffett apologized for the e-mail he sent to students at Erie's Cathedral Prep high school after its Dec. 13 loss at General McLane. Moffett's e-mail was sent to all students at the all-male school, but mainly targeted 36 students whom the coach saw not sitting in a student cheering section.

From a little college in the far northwest corner of the state come new measurements of something large: the impact of hard times on ordinary Pennsylvanians. In just their second year of polling, researchers at Mercyhurst College, a Catholic liberal arts school in Erie, came up with questions meant to gauge the recession's kitchen-table impact. The findings of the college's first statewide poll, to be published this week but made available Monday to The Inquirer, offer fresh evidence that the nation's economic crisis is hitting not just close to home but inside.

ROCHESTER, N.Y.- Jack Cust, Erik Kratz, and Brandon Moss homered and Scott Mathieson (2-1) turned in six shutout innings as the Lehigh Valley IronPigs romped past the Rochester Red Wings, 11-1, Thursday in an International League game. Reading 8, Portland 3   READING - Tuffy Gosewisch and Michael Spidale homered for the R-Phils in the win over the Sea Dogs in an Eastern League contest. Trenton 5, Erie 2 ERIE - Austin Krum and Jose Gil homered as the Thunder defeated the SeaWolves in an Eastern League game.

ALLENTOWN - The Lehigh Valley IronPigs scored twice in the first inning and came back with an insurance run in the fourth to topple the visiting Rochester Red Wings, 3-1, in International League action Wednesday night at Coca-Cola Park. Lefthander Ryan Edell held the Red Wings to one run in seven innings of work, and relievers Aaron Heilman and Joseph Savery combined to keep Rochester from scoring. Portland 5, Reading 4 Portland 5, Reading 3 READING - The R-Phils dropped a pair of seven-inning games against the visiting Portland Sea Dogs in Eastern League action at FirstEnergy Stadium.

In the Region Area jobless rate up 0.3 of a point The Philadelphia metropolitan area's unemployment rate jumped 0.3 of a percentage point in June to 8.7 percent, the highest since December, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry said. The number of nonfarm jobs in the region fell 6,700. The biggest cuts were in the health-education sector as the school year ended, but the drop of 12,500 was larger than the usual seasonal pattern. However, there was typical summer job growth in leisure/hospitality and in retailing.

PAWTUCKET, R.I. - Che-Hsuan Lin lined an RBI single to right with two out in the bottom of the ninth to give the Pawtucket Red Sox a 2-1 win over the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in the International League on Wednesday. Former Phillie Kevin Millwood gave up just one run in seven innings for Pawtucket. Jeremy Kehrt pitched the last two innings for the win. N. Hampshire 4, Reading 3   MANCHESTER, N.H. - Moises Sierra's solo homer in the eighth was the difference as the Fisher Cats beat the Phillies in the Eastern League.

MANCHESTER, N.H. - J.C. Ramirez allowed just three hits in seven innings and Tuffy Gosewisch hit a two-run homer as the Reading Phillies routed the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, 10-2, in the Eastern League on Tuesday. Carlos Rivero, Terry Evans and Paco Figueroa all contributed two RBIs in the win. Pawtucket 7, Lehigh Valley 2 PAWTUCKET, R.I. - Ryan Lavarnway had three RBIs as the Red Sox beat the IronPigs in the International League. Trenton 9, Erie 2 TRENTON - Robert Lyerly waas 3 for 5 with a pair of doubles, two runs scored and an RBI to lead the Thunder past the Seawolves in the Eastern League.

READING - Jamie Johnson scored the winning run in the eighth inning as the Erie SeaWolves beat the Reading Phillies, 3-1, Wednesday night in the Eastern League. With the game tied, 1-1, Johnson singled and scored from first base on a single by Gustavo Nunez. A Reading fielding error resulted in another Erie run. Portland 11, Trenton 4 PORTLAND, Maine - Oscar Tejeda's RBI triple ignited a four-run seventh inning for the SeaWolves in an Eastern League win over the Thunder.

ALLENTOWN - The Indianapolis Indians got strong pitching from Sean Gallagher in shutting out the Lehigh Valley IronPigs, 2-0, Tuesday night in an International League game. Erie 4, Reading 1 READING - The SeaWolves got off to a fast start, scoring three runs in the first en route to the victory over the Phillies in the Eastern League game. The R-Phils put just one run on the board in the third inning when Freddy Glavis scored from third base on a wild pitch.

  ALLENTOWN - Pete Orr scored on a throwing error on a pickoff attempt and Delwyn Young knocked a two-run RBI single in the bottom of the eighth as the Lehigh Valley IronPigs rallied past the Indianapolis Indians, 4-3, in an International league game Monday night. Camden 2, Long Island 1 CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. - Mike Lamb delivered the game-winning, RBI single in the top of the eighth as the Riversharks won their third straight, beating the Ducks, in Atlantic League action.