Tuesday, April 12, 2005 

L 3 - 1

Zebulon , NC --- The best start in club history came to an end on Tuesday night as Carolina fell to Birmingham 3-1 at Five County Stadium.

The Mudcats (5-1), who had committed three errors in their first five games, made four Tuesday, including two in the first inning which led to a pair of unearned runs to give the Barons (3-3) a 2-0 lead.  Josh Johnson (L, 1-1) allowed his other run in the third on a single by Jonathan Acevas.

Meanwhile, Jim Bullard (W, 1-1) pitched six strong innings for the Barons, permitting just a solo homer in the fifth to Jason Hill, shortening the lead to 3-1.  The Mudcats had late inning chances against the Birmingham bullpen, but did not receive the key hit.  Carolina put two on with one out in the eighth, but did not score.  In the ninth, Bobby Jenks yielded consecutive one-out singles to Chris Bass (2-4) and Hill (3-4), however pinch-hitter Todd Sears flew out to deep right-center, then Chris Ashby hit into a game-ending force out.

Jerrod Fuell and Ross Wolf combined to pitch 3 1/3 scoreless innings, extending the bullpen's perfect start to 2005.  The Mudcats pen has pitched 18 innings without allowing a run.

The rubber game of the series and homestand finale is scheduled for Wednesday night with Scott Olsen (1-0, 0.00) starting against the Barons' Sean Tracey (0-0, 6.75) at 7:15 PM ET .

BIRMINGHAM         2 0 1   0 0 0   0 0 0   ---   3   7   0   9

CAROLINA             0 0 0   0 1 0   0 0 0   ---   1   8   4   7

WP - Bullard (1-1)

LP - Johnson (1-1)

S - Jenks (2)

HR - Hill (1)

Time:  2:40

Att:  989