Zebulon, NC - Billy Hall celebrated his 35th birthday with a 10th inning stolen base which forced an errant throw to win the game as Carolina defeated West Tenn 4-3 at Five County Stadium on Thursday night.

Hall, who reached on an infield single then was sacrificed to second, broke for third on a 1-0 pitch to Josh Wilson (1-3, s, k). Catcher Geovany Soto's throw bounced past Matt Craig and down the left field line as Hall stood up and jogged home with the winning run.

Carolina (35-32) maintained its hopes for a first half title, remaining two games behind first-place Tennessee. The Mudcats moved past Jacksonville into third place, with Chattanooga dropping to second a game behind. West Tenn (36-30) dropped 1 1/2 behind Mobile in the West with three games remaining in the first half.

The Mudcats played from behind all game, trailing 2-0 after the top of the first. Run-scoring doubles by Richard Lewis and Aron Weston started the Diamond Jaxx against Mudcats starter Nic Ungs (ND, 6+ip, 7h, 3r, 3er, 0w, 3k).

Charles Frazier (HR, 1, 2-4, rbi, k) drilled his first Double-A homer in the fifth, then a sacrifice fly by Andy Rohleder (0-3, rbi, sf, k) evened the game in the sixth.

In the seventh, Soto scored the tie-breaking run on a single by Micah Hoffpauir. Rohleder gunned out Mike Dzurilla attempting to score on the back end of the hit.

In the bottom of the eighth, Matt Demarco (0-3, r, s, w) scored from second base on a passed ball by Soto.

Randy Messenger (W, 6-0, 2ip, 0h, 0r, 3w, 3k) worked the ninth and 10th for his sixth win.

The game was delayed nearly 40 minutes in the top of the eighth by rain.

Bill Murphy (6-2, 3.08) starts the series' second game Friday night against Bobby Brownlie (6-4, 2.68) at 7:15 PM ET.

West Tenn 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 --- 3 8 1 11
Carolina 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 1 --- 4 6 1 6

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

HR - Frazier (1)

Time: 3:16
Att: 2,580

Notes: Following the Marlins' major league game, the team announced a trade involving ex-Mudcats infielder Wilson Valdez to the Chicago White Sox for reliever Billy Koch. Koch was in Miami as the White Sox completed a series against the Marlins Thursday night... RHP Kevin Cave made his first appearance since May 22, facing three hitters in the seventh inning. Cave allowed a sacrifice bunt and walked the next two hitters... 1B Jason Stokes missed his third straight game with a left wrist injury. Stokes is not expected to play the entire series against the Diamond Jaxx, and will have a precautionary MRI on his wrist on Tuesday morning... OF Chip Ambres, mired in a 4-42 slump, fanned six straight at-bats, including five consecutive looking, before lining out to deep left-center in the ninth inning... Wilson batted third in the Mudcats' lineup for the first time all season on Thursday night. Wilson had batted second in every start in 2004. Josh Willingham has been batting clean-up during Stokes' absence.

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