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April 19, 2004
Zebulon, NC - Trevor Hutchinson fanned 11 in seven innings, while Jason Stokes homered twice as Carolina moved into a second place tie with a 6-1 victory over Chattanooga at Five County Stadium on Monday night.
Hutchinson (W, 3-0, 7IP, 4H, 1R, 1ER, 0W, 11K) struck out seven of the last eight batters he faced to punctuate another sterling start in becoming the Southern League's first three-game winner. Hutchinson's performace followed up a six no-hit inning start last Wednesday in Huntsville, Alabama, leading to the franchise's third no-hitter.
Stokes, meanwhile, continued his torrid power pace. A solo homer in the first and a two-run blast in the eighth gave Stokes (HR, 3, 4, 3-42R, 3RBI) three homers in his last five at-bats, and four for the season. Stokes had his second straight three-hit game, driving in three on the night and seven in the last two games.
Carolina (7-4), which beat the Lookouts (7-4) 10 of 12 meetings in 2003, pulled into an identical tie for second in the East, just one game behind Jacksonville, which lost in Greenville Monday night.
For a brief moment, it appeared it was not destined to be Hutchinson's night. His first pitch of the game was hammered against the right field wall by Andy Beattie, and two batters later, Edwin Encarnacion rocketed an RBI-double. From that point forward, Hutchinson retired 17 of 18 hitters, checking the league's top-ranked offense on just four hits.
Joe Dillon (HR, 5, 1-4, RBI) hit his league-best fifth homer in the fourth against Daylan Childress.
Pete Hartmann (ND, 1IP, 1H, 0R, 1W, 1K) worked out of a two-on jam in the eighth before Kevin Cave (ND, 1IP, 1H, 0R, 0W, 1K) pitched a shutout ninth inning.
Eric Reed (2-4, R, 2B, CS) went 2-4 for the Mudcats, including a double in the first inning. Reed scored on a short sacrifice fly to center by Josh Willingham (0-2, W, R, RBI) , narrowly beating the throw from shortstop Dionys Cesar.
Nic Ungs (0-0, 5.19) starts Tuesday night for Carolina against Lookouts' right-hander Dustin Moseley (0-0, 1.38) at 7:15 PM ET.
CHATTANOOGA 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- 1 6 1 5
CAROLINA 2 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 x --- 6 7 0 2
WP - Hutchinson (3-0)
LP - Childress (0-2)
S - None.
HR - Stokes 2 (3, 4), Dillon (5)
Notes: Carolina evened its record on its first homestand of the season at 2-2... Hutchinson became the first three-game winner in the Southern League, lowering his ERA to 1.50. Hutchinson's 11 strikeouts were the 5th most all-time by a Mudcats starting pitcher. Scott Randall, Brett Backlund and Stan Fansler hold the franchise record of 13... Stokes' two-HR game is the third time a Carolina player has accomplished that feat in the season's first 11 games. Joe Dillon hit two on Opening Night (4/8/04) in Mobile, while Josh Willingham hit two on April 9th... Carolina has hit 18 homers in 11 games, projecting to a pace of a whopping 229 for the season. The team's all-time single-season record for homers is 129 in 1997.... Cave, who saved Sunday's win for Carolina against Huntsville, was warming up in the bullpen in the top of the eighth as Hartmann encountered trouble. Cave continued throwing in the bottom of the eighth anticipating a save opportunity with Carolina leading 4-1. However, a two-out walk to Willingham preceeded Stokes' two-run homer, erasing a save chance for Cave, who entered the game anyway.... Of CF Eric Reed's 18 hits this season, five are bunts and five others are infield hits.... The Lookouts entered Monday night's game with a collective .336 average, but only three homers. Chattanooga averaged .182 against Carolina Monday... For the third time in four games, the Mudcats' pitching staff fanned at least 11 hitters, striking out 13 against one walk Monday night.
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