Thursday, June 16, 2005

L 6-3

Sevierville, TN --- Dan Uggla went 4-4 and Jesus Cota belted a two-run homer as red-hot Tennessee won its eighth straight game, defeating ice-cold Carolina 6-3 in Thursday's series opener at Smokies Park.

With Carolina's seventh straight loss, the Mudcats (40-25) were eliminated in the first half race by West Tenn, which swept a doubleheader in Mississippi.  The Mudcats trail the Diamond Jaxx by 3 1/2 with three games left in the half.

For the first time in 56 innings, Carolina held a lead after a solo homer by James Shanks occurred with two outs in the third inning.  Josh Johnson (L, 6-2) surrendered four runs in the bottom half, however, as Tennessee (31-36) assumed a 4-1 lead.  The Mudcats scored single runs in the fourth and fifth before Cota slammed a two-run homer in the sixth for the final margin 6-3. 

Cota's home run, his league-tying 13th, was the first allowed by Johnson in over 100 innings, dating to July, 2004.

The Mudcats brought the tying run to the plate in the eighth and ninth, but did not push across a run.

The second game of the series is Friday night at 7:15 PM ET with Luke Lockwood (2-1) opposing Tennessee's Enrique Gonzalez (7-2).

CAROLINA            0 0 1   0 1 1   0 0 0   ---   3   10   1   8

TENNESSEE        0 0 4   0 0 2   0 0 x   ---   6   12   0   5

WP - Goocher (5-3)

LP - Johnson (6-3)

S - Schultz (6)

HR - Shanks (6), Cota (13)

Time:  2:58

Att:  3,403