If Collin DeLome had any opening-night butterflies, they weren't visible from the stands.

All the fans at Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium could see was the Avalanche newcomer swatting them away with a mighty swing. DeLome belted a home run in his first Salem at-bat, sparking the Avalanche to an unusual 7-4 Carolina League win over the Kinston Indians on Wednesday.

In addition to the ordinary runs, hits and errors, two Avalanche runners scored on a single sacrifice fly.

Kinston manager Chris Tremie and pitcher Mike Pontius were both ejected from the game, as was Salem first baseman Mark Ori, but not before Ori had belted the bases-clearing double that gave the Avalanche its winning margin.

Salem's seven runs came on 10 hits, two of them by DeLome, who joined the team Wednesday from low-A Lexington to replace all-star Jimmy Van Ostrand, who'd been called up to double-A.

DeLome, who had hit 12 home runs in 61 games in Lexington, led off the second inning for Salem.

"I know it's the same game at every level, but I was still a little nervous," DeLome confessed. "I wanted to find a good fastball, and I got one middle in. I put a good swing on it."

DeLome, who bats left-handed, yanked it over the right-field wall.

"I was teasing the guys on the bench, saying, 'See it's not that hard,'" Avalanche manager Jim Pankovits said.

One out later, Justin Tellam doubled and came around to score on a two-out single by Roberto Mena.

DeLome doubled in his second at-bat, but this time nothing came of it.

The Indians picked up a run in the third, but Salem scored two in the fourth. Tellam reached on a throwing error by third baseman Jared Goedert and went to third base on a double by Greg Buchanan.

Jordan Parraz then hit a fly ball to center. It was well deep enough for Tellam to tag up and score from third when center fielder Jason Denham caught it. Buchanan alertly tagged up at second and dashed to third.

Shortstop Carlos Rivero ranged into left center to act as the cutoff man, but Denham didn't immediately throw the ball to him.

Buchanan quickly got to third while Denham dallied, and Pankovits sent Buchanan on home for a 4-1 lead.

Kinston erased Salem's lead with three runs in the sixth inning.

With the bases loaded, Brian Juhl singled to bring two runs in. Cristo Arnal brought home the tying run when he grounded into a double play.

Salem came back to load the bases in the sixth.

Indians lefty reliever Dan Cevette was brought in to face lefty Ori, who doubled to left to bring all three runners home.

Kinston's manager had been thrown out for arguing a call at the plate in the fourth inning.

Salem reliever Chris Salamida hit Niuman Romero square in the back with a pitch to lead off the eighth inning, and drew a bench warning from the umpires.

In the bottom of the eighth, Pontius walked the leadoff batter and then threw behind the head of the next batter, Parraz, before striking him out. He also went high against Tim Torres before getting him to fly out, and eventually plunked Ori.

Pontius then walked toward Ori, who was walking toward first base. Players from both teams moved up the steps from the dugouts and out of the bullpens but didn't get to the field. Pankovits stepped between Ori and Pontius, who were then ejected from the game.

"That's baseball," Pankovits said. "Hopefully it's over with and we can get on with baseball."

HOW THE RUNS SCORED

Salem second: DeLome homered. Quintero grounded out. Tellam doubled. Buchanan grounded out, Tellam to third. Mena singled, Buchanan scored. Avalanche 2, Indians 0.

Kinston third: Juhl reached on an infield single. Arnal reached on an infield single, Juhl to second. Drennan sacrifice bunted to move Juhl to third, Arnal to second. Mills flied out, Juhl scored. Avalanche 2, Indians 1.

Salem fourth: Tellam reached on a throwing error by Goedert. Buchanan doubled, Tellam to third. Mena grounded out. Parraz flied out, Tellam scored, Buchanan scored. Avalanche 4, Indians 1.

Kinston sixth: Romero walked. Cumberbatch singled. Denham singled to load the bases. Head replaced Denham at first. Juhl singled, Romero scored, Cumberbatch scored, Head to third. Arnal grounded into a double play, Head scored. Avalanche 4, Indians 4.

Salem sixth: Buchanan singled. Mena singled. The runners moved up to third and second on a wild pitch by Smith. Parraz grounded out. Torres was intentionally walked. Cevette relieved Smith. Ori doubled, Buchanan scored, Mena scored, Torres scored. Avalanche 7, Indians 4.

KINSTON SALEM

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Drennen lf-cf 4 0 0 0 Parraz rf 4 0 1 2

Mills dh 3 0 0 1 Torres ss 3 1 0 0

Rivero ss 2 0 1 0 Ori 1b 4 0 1 3

Goedert 3b 4 0 0 0 Carkeek pr-1b 0 0 0 0

Romero 1b 2 1 0 0 Clemens dh 4 0 0 0

Cumberbatch rf 4 1 2 0 DeLome lf 4 1 2 1

Denham cf 3 0 2 0 Quintero cf 4 0 1 0

Head pr-lf 1 1 0 0 Tellam c 4 2 1 0

Juhl c 3 1 2 2 Buchanan 2b 4 2 2 0

Arnal 2b 4 0 1 0 Mena 3b 3 1 2 1

Totals 30 4 8 3 Totals 34 7 10 7

Kinston 001 003 000 -- 4

Salem 020 203 00x -- 7

E--Goedert (6), Romero (6). DP--Kinston, Salem 2. LOB--Kinston 6, Salem 9. 2B--Tellam (5), DeLome (1), Buchanan (12), Ori (18). HR--DeLome (1). S--Drennen. SF--Parraz. SB--Denham (11), Cumberbatch (5), Quintero (5), Mena (3).

IP H R ER BB SO

Kinston

Smith L,4-4 5 1-3 9 7 5 3 1

Cevette 2-3 1 0 0 0 2

Pontius 1 2-3 0 0 0 1 3

Rodrigues 1-3 0 0 0 0 0

Salem

Severino 5 5 2 2 4 1

Appell W,1-1 1 3 2 2 0 0

Salamida S,5 3 0 0 0 0 3

WP--Smith, Cevette, Pontius, Severino.

HBP--by Pontius (Ori), by Salamida (Romero). Umpires--Home:Saphire; Bases: Ashcraft. T--2:50. Att.--4,103.