Tuesday, July 2, 2005

W 7-4

Chattanooga, TN --- Even with an off-day on Monday, the Carolina Mudcats did not forget where they were or who they playing, defeating the Chattanooga Lookouts 7-4 at Bell South Park, winning for the 12th time in 13 games in Chattanooga.

The Mudcats (22-13, 63-40) hit three home runs, including two tape-measure shots from Jeremy Hermida and JC Muniz.  Hermida's, his career-best 16th of the season, easily cleared the right field bleachers on a 2-0 pitch from former Marlins farmhand Travis Chick.  Muniz skied a homer fading over the top of the left field scoreboard against losing pitcher Ben Weber (L, 1-1), who is continuing his major league rehab assignment for the Cincinnati Reds.

Reggie Abercrombie drilled a two-run homer in the first against Chick two batters after Hermida's as the Mudcats took a 4-0 lead.

The Lookouts (13-24, 40-66) tied the game against winning pitcher Ray Aguilar (W, 4-0) with two in the second and sixth.

Frank Moore delivered a tie-breaking single against Weber in the seventh, scoring Drew Niles, who bounced a single to right to begin the inning.  Robert Andino singled in the final run in the ninth to bring home Moore.

Aguilar worked six innings, permitting six hits and four runs for the win.  Mike McNutt pitched a one-hit seventh, then Chris Resop (S, 20) registered his league-best 20th save over two scoreless innings.

The Mudcats lead the season series with the Lookouts 21-7 with nine games remaining, and took a 1/2 game lead in the North over West Tenn pending the Diamond Jaxx's game against Huntsville on Tuesday night.

Josh Johnson (9-4, 4.21) starts against Lookouts RHP Josh Hall (3-3, 2.80) Wednesday afternoon at 12:15 PM ET in the middle game of the three-game series.

CAROLINA            4 0 0   0 0 0   1 1 1   ---   7   12   0   5

CHATTANOOGA    0 2 0   0 0 2   0 0 0   ---   4    8   0   7

WP - Aguilar (4-0)

LP - Weber (1-1)

S - Resop (20)

HR - Hermida (16), Abercrombie (7), Muniz (6)

Time:  2:32

Att:  2,643