Sevierville, TN - Four Carolina pitchers combined to strand 12 Tennessee baserunners in a 2-1 win over the Smokies on Tuesday night at Smokies Park.

With the Mudcats (19-24) leading 2-1 in the late innings, the Smokies (19-25) hit into a bases-loaded double play in the eighth, had the tying run thrown out stealing in the ninth, then a potential game-tying home run bend foul with two outs and two strikes in the ninth.

Jason Iehl (W, 1-0, 5ip, 5h, 1r, 1er, 5w, 1k) earned his first Double-A victory, working through a bases-loaded jam in the first, permitting just one run. In Iehl's final inning, Billy Hall speared a line drive at third base with the sacks filled again to preserve a 2-1 lead.

Joe Rodriguez (ND, 1.1ip, 2h, 0r, 0w, 0k), Mike Flannery (ND, 1.2ip, 1h, 0r, 2w, 1k) and Randy Messenger (S, 16, 1ip, 1h, 0r, 0w, 1k) combined to blank the Smokies over the final four innings.

Josh Willingham (HR, 19, 2-4, r, rbi, k, cs) unloaded against Randy Leek (L, 3-7) for a homer to left field to tie the game in the fourth inning. Willingham sent the 1-0 pitch into orbit over the wall, over a 50-foot grassy patch leading to a black windbreaker before the Smokies scoreboard. Willingham's blast hit the right-hand brick column rising nearly 60 feet off of the ground, about 3/4 of the way up toward the top. The homer is estimated at over 450 feet.

Carolina went ahead 2-1 in the fifth on a two-out double by Matt Demarco (2-4, 2b, rbi, s, cs) to score Rex Rundgren (2-4, r) from second base.

Carolina went 1-10 with runners in scoring position, while Tennessee was 0-10. Jeff Fulchino (3-5, 5.26) starts the series' third game on Wednesday night against Tennessee's Anthony Reyes (4-1, 3.05) at 7:15 PM ET.

Carolina 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 --- 2 9 1 9
Tennessee 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- 1 9 1 12

WP - Iehl (1-0)
LP - Leek (3-7)
S - Messenger (16)

HR - Willingham (19)

Time: 3:13
Att: 3,022

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