By WALT BURROWS
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN

When opportunity knocked, no one answered the door Saturday night for the Camden Riversharks.

Camden, which had beaten Lehigh Valley in four of six previous Atlantic League baseball games, dropped a 6-4 decision before 6,178 fans, the second-largest crowd of the season.

The Riversharks lost because they failed to cash in on scoring chances in the eighth and ninth innings.

``We put some hits on the board but not at the right time,'' said Camden manager Wayne Krenchicki, who will manage the South Division in the league's all-star game Wednesday in Newark.

``We botched a run-down play and hurt ourselves with some outfield play. It was a combination of things that hurt us.''

Camden had shaved its deficit to 6-4 in the eighth inning with no one out and runners on first and third, but couldn' t score.

A fly ball to short right, a soft liner to first base and a fly ball to left field ended the threat.

In the ninth inning, Lehigh Valley reliever Angel Miranda got the first two batters out on ground balls, then walked the next two to get the Campbell's Field crowd jumping.

Up stepped Dan Held, an Atlantic League all-star who was 3-for-4 and looking to become the hero.

Miranda gave him three off-speed breaking balls and Held chased all three for the final out.

``The guy pitched in the big leagues,'' said Krenchicki, pointing to Miranda's time with Milwaukee. ``He had a helluva screwball then, and he's still throwing it. He nibbles with his fastball, then throws it. He did make Danny look bad, but those kind of pitchers do.''

Held said he went up to the plate aggressively.

``I saw them well,'' he said. ``I tip my hat to him. I would have traded those other hits I got tonight for one in that situation.''

Lehigh Valley jumped on Camden starter and loser Ted Silva for three straight hits in the second inning to take a 2-0 lead.

Chad Gambill opened the spurt with a double to left field and moved to third on John Adams' single to left.

After Adams moved to second on a wild pitch, both runners scored on Harvey Hargrove's double to left field. Silva retired the next three batters to end the rally.

The Riversharks got a run back in the third inning on a single by Andres Duncan, a wild pitch and, after a walk to leadoff batter John Dorman, a single to center by Jacob Brumfield.

Lehigh Valley stretched its lead to 3-1 in the fourth when Gambill tripled to left center and scored on Adams' slow roller toward third base that Kim Batiste turned into an out at first.

Silva helped Lehigh Valley post two more runs in the fifth.

P.J. Williams beat out a roller toward third to begin the inning. He stole second but was hung out to dry when Victor Gutierrez hit a comebacker to Silva, who did the right thing. He ran right at Williams, then did the wrong thing by throwing the ball behind him to the second baseman.

The result: Williams wound up on third and Gutierrez was on second with no one out. Edgar Tovar singled in one run and Gutierrez scored when Francisco Lebron bounced into a double play to make it 5-1.