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June 9, 2004
Zebulon, NC - Pat Magness hit a sacrifice fly to score Billy Hall with the eventual winning run in the eighth inning as Carolina edged Tennessee 4-3 at Five County Stadium on Wednesday night.
The Mudcats (32-28) reclaimed second place in the East with the victory, but remained two games behind Chattanooga with 10 to play in the first half.
Closer Randy Messenger (S, 5, 1ip, 0h, 0r, 1w, 2k) needed a pair of strikeouts with Smokies at first and third and one out in the ninth to secure his fifth save. Messenger walked pinch-hitter Papo Bolivar to start the inning, but retired Jon Hamilton bunting out to first baseman Jason Stokes. A wild pitch pushed Bolivar to second base, then a bobble on a bounding groundball to Stokes cost Messenger a baserunner. However, Messenger whiffed Corey Erickson on a 1-2 pitch, then disposed Dee Haynes on three fastballs to end the game, two well out of the strikezone .
Peter Bauer (ND, 6.1ip, 6h, 3r, 3er, 1w, 5k) carried a 3-1 lead into the seventh inning, retiring nine straight before a double and two-run homer by Dan Moylan tied the game.
Trailing 1-0, Carolina scored three times against the Southern League's best pitcher Brad Thompson in the third inning. With two outs, Hall (1-3, 2r, hbp) reached on a hopper over the mound. Josh Wilson (2-3, r, 2b, s) singled Hall to second. Josh Willingham (1-3, r, rbi, ibb) drilled a 3-1 pitch to left field to score Hall with the tying run. Jason Stokes then doubled against the left-field wall to bring two runs home for a 3-1 lead.
Chris Duncan homered against Bauer in the second inning to give the Smokies (30-30) a 1-0 lead. Duncan has hit longballs in each of the first two games of the series.
The eighth inning rally began when reliever Josh Kinney (L, 1-4) hit Hall with the first pitch. Wilson sacrificed Hall to second ahead of an intentional walk to Willingham. Kinney pitched ahead of Stokes 0-2 before walking him to fill the bases. Magness (0-3, rbi, sf, k) lifted a fairly regular flyball to centerfielder Skip Schumaker, who did not make a throw on Hall, instead tossing toward third as Carolina grabbed a 4-3 lead.
Ryan Baker (W, 2-1, 1.1ip, 1h, 0r, 0w, 0k), who entered behind Todd Moser (ND, 0.1ip, 0h, 0r, 1w, 0K) in the seventh, earned the victory by stranding two baserunners in the seventh and eighth.
Jeff Fulchino (1-0, 3.57) starts the series' third game against Tennessee RH Jeremy Cook (1-1, 3.12) at 7:15 PM ET Thursday night at Five County.
Tennessee 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 --- 3 7 1 10
Carolina 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 x --- 4 5 2 5
WP - Baker (2-1)
LP - Kinney (1-4)
S - Messenger (5)
HR: Duncan (8), Moylan (2)
Notes: Carolina has toggled between second and third place with Jacksonville each of the last six days. The Mudcats again passed the Suns with Wednesday's victory... The Mudcats, who were blanked on four hits Tuesday night, had only five Wednesday, and one was on the infield... Carolina has faced Thompson three starts, with Thompson earning a win, loss and a no-decision. His ERA against the Mudcats is 5.51, while it is 0.72 against the rest of the Southern League. Thompson is the winningest pitcher in the league, and established Southern League and minor league all-time records for a run of scoreless innings dating back to August, 2003. His streak was snapped at 57 2/3 innings in mid-May by West Tenn... Former Mudcat starter Peter Bauer, who has started against Thompson each of his three starts, went 0-2 at the plate and is now 0-21 as a hitter in his pro career. The longest drought by a Mudcats pitcher before recording his first professional hit was in 1999 when Chandler Martin went 0 for his first 29... C/1B Eliezer Alfonzo, who has pinch-hit in his first three games as a Mudcat, has fanned in all three at-bats... Prior to Wednesday's game, RHP Kevin Cave threw his second simulated game in three days. Cave, who has not thrown since May 22nd and placed on the disabled list on June 3rd with an injured back, reported no complications and is expected to return to the active roster this weekend.
Box Score
Audio Broadcast
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