Saturday, August 6, 2005

W 4-3      11 innings

Zebulon, NC --- Reggie Abercrombie singled home Jeremy Hermida in the bottom of the 11th as Carolina beat Tennessee in its last at-bat for the second straight night 4-3 at Five County Stadium.

Hermida, who singled to begin the 11th inning against Pete Sikaras (L, 2-3), slid home just ahead of the tag from catcher Miguel Montero as the Mudcats celebrated.

Carolina (25-14, 66-41) took a two game lead in the North as West Tenn lost to Chattanooga on Saturday night.

Frank Moore hit a solo homer in the fourth to tie the game 1-1, then trailing 2-1 in the fifth, Moore hit a single to right field with Chris Bass at first base.  Right fielder Jon Zeringue charged and overran the two-out hit, then had to chase the ball back to the wall as Bass and Moore circled the bases.

Tennessee (18-23, 51-60) tied the game in the sixth against reliever Ross Wolf with an unearned run in the sixth.

The Mudcats bullpen worked six innings allowing zero earned runs.  Adam Bostick pitched five innings, permitting six hits in the start, fanning five.  Matt Overman (W, 1-0) fanned all three hitters in the 11th to collect the win in his Double-A debut. 

Carolina pitchers struck out a season-high 16 batters while walking just two.

The Mudcats close out their three-game set with Tennessee Sunday at 4:00 PM ET with Ray Aguilar (4-0, 2.42) starting against Dustin Nippert (6-3, 2.88).

TENNESSEE        0 0 0   1 1 1   0 0 0   0 0   ---   3   10   1   7

CAROLINA           0 0 0   1 2 0   0 0 0   0 1   ---   4    7    2    6

WP - Overman (1-0)

LP - Sikaras (2-3)

S - None.

HR - Moore (4)

Time:  3:17

Att:  5,968