Saturday, July 9, 2005

Zebulon, NC --- Jose Reyes' first home run of the season came in the top of the 10th inning as West Tenn handed Carolina its first extra-inning loss of the season, 4-3 at Five County Stadium on Saturday night.

Reyes, who doubled in two runs in the fifth to give the Diamond Jaxx a 3-1 lead in the fifth, popped an 0-1 pitch from Ryan Baker (L, 3-2) against the right field scoreboard for the series-evening victory.

Carolina (9-7, 50-34) had tied the game 3-3 with two runs in the ninth, culminating with a pinch-single by Dennis Anderson to score Reggie Abercrombie with the tying run against closer David Aardsma (W, 3-0).

Robert Andino singled home James Shanks in the first inning for a 1-0 lead against starter Sean Marshall.  However, Marshall did not permit another run over his next seven frames.

Josh Johnson pitched seven innings for the Mudcats, and avoided his fifth loss with the ninth inning rally.  Johnson allowed three runs on just five hits, matching his season-high with eight strikeouts.

Jerrod Fuell pitched two scoreless innings before Baker entered for the 10th. 

Carolina had just three hits in the game, two that factored in runs.  The Mudcats had won four consecutive final at-bat games over the Diamond Jaxx (9-8, 53-33).  The loss was Carolina's first in extra innings in eight contests in 2005.

Ray Aguilar (1-0, 1.35) starts against West Tenn's Ricky Nolasco (8-0, 2.71) Sunday at 4:00 PM ET.  Nolasco is scheduled to start for the Northern Division All-Star team on Wednesday night, should the All-Star game be played.  The game is still scheduled despite Hurricane Dennis' approach in the gulf coast.

WEST TENN            0 0 0   1 2 0   0 0 0   1   ---   4   6   2   3

CAROLINA              1 0 0   0 0 0   0 0 2   0   ---   3   3   0   5

WP - Aardsma (3-0)

LP - Baker (3-2)

S - Shipman (3)

HR - Reyes (1)

Time:  2:34

Att:  5,481