July 1, 2004

Zebulon, NC - Peter Bauer took a perfect game into the eighth inning, then held on as Carolina knocked Chattanooga from an unbeaten status with a 3-2 victory before 2,894 at Five County Stadium on Thursday night.

Bauer retired the first 22 hitters of the game, setting a club record, before Bobby Darula bounced a three-hopper into left field to break the endeavor toward perfection. Bauer (W, 5-5, 8ip, 3h, 2r, 1er, 0w, 6k) allowed two more hits, then survived an error by shortstop Josh Wilson (1-4, k) before Bauer retired the final two batters of the inning, leading 3-2.

Randy Messenger (S, 7, 1ip, 0h, 0r, 0w, 1k) pitched a perfect ninth inning to record his seventh save.

Carolina (3-6) handed Chattanooga (7-1) its first loss of the second half, and ended a personal four-game losing streak against the Lookouts.

The Mudcats took a 1-0 lead against Steve Kelly (L, 6-4) on a single by Josh Willingham (2-4, r, 2b, rbi). Two more runs scored in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by Matt Demarco (0-3, rbi, sf) and a throwing error by third baseman Edwin Encarnacion to score Willingham, who had doubled.

Bauer had made just 67 pitches to retire the 22 Lookout hitters before Darula's single. Josh Wilson made two flashy plays at shortstop behind Bauer, with Billy Hall at third base sucking up a Jason Hill in the sixth inning. Jeff Inglin made a racing catch of line drive in the fourth inning to help preserve Bauer's bid.

Bauer earned his first win since May 24th, and his first in three outings against the Lookouts. Bauer was beaten by Kelly and the Lookouts last Friday 11-1.

Trevor Hutchinson (5-5, 5.79) starts the third game of the series on Friday night at 7:15 PM ET against Brian Rose (8-2, 3.17). Rose is the only eight-game winner in the league.

Chattanooga 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 --- 2 3 3 2
Carolina 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 x --- 3 7 1 7

WP - Bauer (5-5)
LP - Kelly (6-4)
S - Messenger (7)

HR - None.

Time: 2:10
Att: 2,894

Notes: Bauer's club-record setting performance broke a 13-year record set by Steve Cook in 1991. Cook retired the first 19 hitters en route to a complete game one-hitter on September 2, 1991. Carolina has never had an individual throw a no-hitter.. The 5 1/2 game deficit with which Carolina began the night was the largest of the season.... Bauer went 0-2 with a sacrifice bunt at the plate, falling to 0-28 as a pro hitter. The Mudcats all-time record for futility at the outset of a pitcher's hitting career is 0-29 set in 1999 by Chandler Martin.