August 28, 2004

Greenville, SC - Jeff Franceour's first hit of the series scored Napoleon Calzado in the 10th inning as Greenville defeated Carolina 3-2 to remain mathematically alive in the Eastern Division second half race.

Franceour, who was 0-14 in his first series against Carolina (30-31, 67-64) hit a high chopper to Ryan Minor (0-3, rbi, hbp, 2k) with the bases loaded and one out to lift Greenville to its first win of the series. Randy Messenger (L, 6-3, 2.1ip, 4h, 1r, 1er, 3w, 0k) suffered the loss after Calzado singled with one out, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Casey Grzecka (1-3, 2b, s, k). Two intentional walks followed to bring up Franceour.

Greenville remains 9 1/2 games behind first-place Chattanooga, which clinched no worse than a tie for the second half title in the East.

Carolina trailed 2-0 in the ninth after a brilliant pitchers' duel formed between Peter Bauer (ND, 7ip, 3h, 0r, 2w, 4k) and Greenville's Kyle Davies. Davies fanned 10 in six innings, allowing just one hit. Bauer worked seven innings in just 82 pitches before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the eighth with the game scoreless.

Greenville went ahead in the eighth on a bases-loaded bouncing single to center by Scott Thorman.

The Mudcats tied the game in the ninth after filling the bases against Izzy Pineda on singles from Jeff Inglin (1-3, r, w, k), Josh Willingham (1-4, r, 2k) and a walk to Chip Ambres (0-2, 2w, k). Minor was hit by a 0-1 pitch to force in a run. Andy Rohleder bounced into a 6-3 double play to score Willingham to tie the game. Grzecka's hard grounder to Andy Marte at third was played into the final out of the inning.

The Mudcats were denied a 1-0 lead in the second inning when Grzecka doubled past Marte into the left field corner with Ambres at first. Calzado retrieved the ball and heaved a throw to home plate. Calzado's throw went over the relay man, yet remained on track for the plate. Catcher Lee Evans was awaiting the throw, which was intercepted on the fly by first baseman Thorman 15 feet up the line from home plate, tagging out and knocking over Ambres for the inning's final out.

Carolina, which leads the season series with the Braves 13-6, will play its final ever game against Greenville Sunday afternoon at 5:15 PM ET. After 21 years of Southern League baseball, the Greenville franchise will move to Pearl, Mississippi for the 2005 season. Trevor Hutchinson (9-7, 4.41) will start for Carolina.

Carolina 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 --- 2 4 1 5
Greenville 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 1 --- 3 9 0 10

WP - Langen (1-0)
LP - Messenger (6-3) S - None.
HR - None.

Att: 2,582
Time: 2:41