Sunday, August 7, 2005

W 3-2

Zebulon, NC --- Rex Rundgren and Chris Bass singled in runs back-to-back with one out in the bottom of the ninth as Carolina swept the Tennessee Smokies with a 3-2 win on Sunday night at Five County Stadium.

Carolina, which beat the Smokies in the bottom of the ninth on Friday and the last of the 11th on Saturday night, built the game-winning rally thanks to a leadoff error by shortstop Stephen Drew on a groundball by Jason Hill.  Reggie Abercrombie singled off of Casey Daigle (L, 7-3), but JC Muniz bunted into a force play at third.  Daigle threw a wild pitch against Drew Niles to push the runners to second and third, leading to an intentional walk of Niles.  Rundgren followed with a low single to right to tie the game, then Bass drove a pinch-hit single to deep left-centerfield to win the game.

The Mudcats (67-41, 26-14) kept their two-game lead in the North over West Tenn, who will open a three-game set against the Mudcats beginning Monday night. 

Ray Aguilar pitched eight innings, allowing two runs and fanning five in collecting a no-decision.  Chris Resop (W, 2-1) earned the win with a perfect ninth inning.

Josh Johnson (9-4) starts the series opener with the Diamond Jaxx against Carlos Marmol (3-2) at 7:15 PM ET.

TENNESSEE            0 1 0   0 0 1   0 0 0    ---   2   9   1   6

CAROLINA               1 0 0   0 0 0   0 0 2    ---   3  11   1   8

WP - Resop (2-1)

LP - Daigle (7-3)

S - None.

HR - Morgan (3)

Time:  2:33

Att:  5,588