June 30, 2004

Zebulon, NC - The Chattanooga Lookouts hit three solo homers and remained the Southern League's only undefeated team in the second half with a 4-1 victory over the Carolina Mudcats at Five County Stadium on Wednesday night.

William Bergolla, Jason Hill and Travis Wilson each homered as the Lookouts (7-0) won their seventh straight game to open the second half, and their fourth consecutive victory over the Mudcats (2-6).

Just eight games into the second half, Carolina trails the front-running Lookouts by 5 1/2 games.

Former Mudcat Luke Hudson (W, 4-6) defeated Carolina for his second straight start, allowing only Nic Ungs' first professional home run, a deep blast over the centerfield wall in the sixth.

Ungs (L, 3-5, 7ip, 8h, 3r, 3er, 3w, 4k) pitched seven innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, walking three and fanning four. Ungs remained winless since defeating Chattanooga on May 21st.

The Mudcats managed just four hits - Ungs' homer, a hustle double by Josh Wilson (1-4, 2b, k) in the fourth that was misjudged by centerfielder Ramon Moreta, a line triple to right by Chip Ambres (1-3, 3b, w, k) which was lost in the lights by Chad Durham, and a lashed double by Jeff Inglin (1-2, 2w) over Bobby Darula's head in left field in the eighth inning.

Mike McNutt (ND, 2ip, 1h, 1r, 1er, 0w, 1k) permitted Wilson's pinch-homer in the ninth.

Carolina sends Peter Bauer (4-5, 4.09) against Steve Kelly (6-3, 3.49) Thursday night at 7:15 PM ET.

Chattanooga 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 --- 4 9 1 6
Carolina 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 --- 1 4 0 7

WP - Hudson (4-6)
LP - Ungs (3-5)
S - Coffey (15)

HR - Bergolla (3), Hill (2), Ungs (1), Wilson (5)

Time: 2:27
Att: 2,939

Notes: Former Mudcats C JD Closser made his major league debut Wednesday night, starting at catcher for the Colorado Rockies against the Milwaukee Brewers. Closser notched his first major league hit in the fifth inning with a single to right against Ben Sheets... Hudson, by allowing a homer to Ungs on Wednesday night, now holds one very distinctive record for Carolina. Hudson is now the first pitcher to hit a homer for the Mudcats, and allow a homer to a Mudcats pitcher while pitching for a different team. Hudson homered for Carolina in 2001... Carolina finished the month of June 14-15, its second straight sub-.500 month. The Mudcats ended May 14-15... The Mudcats 5 1/2 game deficit in the East is the largest margin by which the Mudcats have trailed during all of 2004. Carolina fell five games behind Jacksonville on April 28th in the first half, but did respond to a first-place tie in May... The Mudcats announced that all box seats for the game Sunday, July 4th against the Jacksonville Suns have been sold out. Gates open for Saturday and Sunday's game at 6:00 PM ET instead of the customary 6:15 PM ET to accomodate overflow crowds.