Thursday, June 9, 2005

W 4-0

Jacksonville, FL --- Five Carolina pitchers combined for a six-hit shutout as first place Carolina blanked Jacksonville 6-0 in the series opener at the Baseball Grounds on Thursday night.

Carolina, winners of five straight and 11 of 12, maintained its 1 1/2 game lead over West Tenn, which beat Mississippi 9-4 on Thursday night.  The Mudcats' magic number to clinching the North is down to a combination of nine Mudcats wins or Diamond Jaxx losses.  Ten games remain in the first half, and at 40-18, the Mudcats now possess the best record of all 120 minor league teams in the nation.

Scott Olsen (W, 5-3) earned his first win since May 6th with six scoreless, while Ross Wolf, Mike McNutt, Kevin Cave and Chris Resop combined for the final three innings.  The five pitchers issued a season-high nine walks, but the Suns (31-29) stranded 13 baserunners and went 0-11 with runners in scoring position. 

Drew Niles put the Mudcats (40-18) ahead 2-0 in the fourth against Eric Stults thanks to a two-run single off the glove of third baseman Brian Sprout to score Jeremy Hermida and Jason Hill with two outs.  Hill blasted a two-run homer in the sixth against Stults for a 4-0 lead, Hill's third in four games.

The Suns brought the tying run to the plate three times in the final two innings.  In the eighth, Tydus Meadows topped a grounder to third as Niles began a 5-3 double play.  In the ninth, Resop fanned Delwyn Young and Joel Guzman with the bases loaded to conclude the game.

Yorman Bazardo (4-3, 3.67) starts Friday night against Eric Hull (3-3, 3.02) at 7:05 PM ET at the Baseball Grounds. 

CAROLINA            0 0 0   2 0 2   0 0 0    ---    4   8   0   8

JACKSONVILLE    0 0 0   0 0 0   0 0 0    ---    0   6   3  13

WP - Olsen (5-3)

LP - Stults (3-3)

S - None.

HR - Hill (9)

Time:  2:59

Att:  7,405