Zebulon, NC - Jake Gautreau hit a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to break a 4-4 tie as the Mobile BayBears edged the Carolina Mudcats 5-4 at Five County Stadium on Tuesday night.

Gautreau, who drove in two runs in the first inning, hit a low liner to short centerfield, but deep enough for the speedy Freddy Guzman to race home ahead of Eric Reed's throw.  The inning began on a walk issued by Pat Flury (L, 0-1, 0.1IP, 1H, 1R, 1ER, 1W, 1K).  Guarding against a sacrifice bunt, first baseman Jason Stokes began charging toward the plate as Flury turned to first for a pickoff throw, but with Stokes nowhere near the bag a balk was called moving Guzman to second.  Todd Donovan beat out a bunt single taking Guzman to third, then after a strikeout, reliever Todd Moser (ND, 0.2IP, 0H, 0R, 0W, 1K) allowed Gautreau's line drive to center to score the tie-breaking run.

Carolina (13-13) spotted the BayBears (14-12) a 4-0 lead in the early innings.  Gautreau singled home two in the first against Trevor Hutchinson (ND, 5IP, 7H, 4R, 2ER, 3W, 7K).  Mobile scored two unearned runs in the third thanks to a pair of errors by shortstop Josh Wilson (2-4, R, RBI, W, CS).  Wilson could not handle a popup to begin the inning, then later with the bases loaded, threw high to Matt Demarco (1-3, R, S) on a potential double-play grounder that would have taken Hutchinson through the inning.  A run scored on that error, while Hutchinson walked in a run earlier in the frame as Mobile went ahead 4-0.

Carolina scored three runs in the fourth thanks to a two-run double by Jason Stokes (1-4, R, 2B, 2RBI, W, 3K) which scored Wilson and Chip Ambres (1-5, R, K).  Stokes was brought home on a groundout by Josh Willingham (0-3, RBI, 2W).

In the seventh, Carolina caught the BayBears on a bases-loaded single by Wilson, but stranded three aboard.

In the Mudcats ninth, Eric Reed (2-5, 2B, 2K) doubled on the first pitch from BayBears closer Brad Baker (S, 8), followed by a walk to Wilson.  Baker fanned Ambres and Stokes before walking Willingham to fill the bases before striking out Michael Tucker (0-4, W, 2K) to end the game.

Carolina is off Wednesday before continuing its homestand against the Greenville Braves Thursday night at 7:15 PM ET.  Nic Ungs (0-1, 2.88) starts against lefty Dan Meyer (1-0, 0.00).

Mobile        2 0 2   0 0 0   0 0 1   ---   5   9  2   8
Carolina      0 0 0   3 0 0   1 0 0   ---   4   8  3  11

WP - Hampton (3-0)
LP - Flury (0-1)
S - Baker (8)

HR - None.
Time:  3:06
Att:  1,270

Notes:  Carolina has dropped three straight after winning a season-high four in a row... The BayBears won the season series with Carolina 5-3.  The two clubs will not meet the remainder of the regular season...  Carolina stranded 11 runners aboard in the loss, 10 of which in the last four innings...  Five Carolina pitchers combined to strike out 15 Mobile hitters...  For the first time this season, the Mudcats find themselves in fourth place in the East.  The Mudcats have won three of the last four halves in the East dating back to 2002.... Mike McNutt fanned four over two hitless innings on Tuesday, running his total to 27 in 16 1/3 innings against three walks... Carolina leads the season series with Greenville 3-1... Beginning Thursday, the Mudcats begin a stretch of 20 consecutive games within the Eastern Division - four with Greenville, eight against Tennessee and eight against Chattanooga... Wilson's three errors in Tuesday night's game equaled a franchise record...  Carolina has committed 12 errors in its last three games.