Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Double Header     L 2-1 / L 3-2

Jacksonville, FL --- Russell Martin drove in the game winners, both in extra innings, as the Jacksonville Suns swept a doubleheader from the Carolina Mudcats Tuesday night 2-1 and 3-2 in nine innings at the Baseball Grounds.

Martin hit a go-homer on the second pitch of the ninth in the opener against Kevin Cave (L, 5-3), then drew a bases-loaded walk against Cave in the nightcap to complete the sweep.

Carolina, which secured no worse than the wild card in the Northern Division on Monday, saw its divisional lead shrink to 1/2 game over West Tenn with six games remaining in the half.

James Shanks hit a homer in the opener for a 1-0 lead in the third inning.  The Suns' Adolfo Gonzalez tied the game with a home run in the last of the third, then Martin won it in the ninth. 

Ray Aguilar pitched six innings on three hits for a no-decision.

In game two, the Mudcats took a 2-0 lead with a Dennis Anderson single in the first, then an infield single by Angel Molina in the third.  Jacksonville tied the game against Clint Sodowsky in the fourth with a pair of runs after Sodowsky had retired the game's first 10 batters.

Martin batted with the bases loaded and none out in the ninth of the nightcap before walking on a 3-2 pitch from Cave, who took losses in both games.

The series continues against the Suns Wednesday afternoon at 1:05 PM ET with Nic Ungs (7-5, 3.64) starting for the Mudcats against Richard Bartlett (3-2, 5.13).

Game # 1

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

JACKSONVILLE    0 0 1   0 0 0   0 0 1   ---   2   4   0   3

WP - Juarez (6-5)

LP - Cave (5-2)

S - None.

HR - Shanks (9), Gonzalez (1), Martin (9)

Time:  2:18

Game # 2

CAROLINA            1 0 1   0 0 0   0 0 0   ---   2   8   2  10

JACKSONVILLE    0 0 0   2 0 0   0 0 1   ---   3   5   2    9

WP - Broxton (5-3)

LP - Cave (5-3)

S - None.

HR - None.

Time:  2:47

Att:  3,278