Mobile, AL --- Greg Sain's sacrifice fly in the eighth inning capped a two-run rally as the Mobile BayBears defeated the Carolina Mudcats 3-2 in the series finale at Hank Aaron Stadium on Wednesday afternoon.
Carolina (20-6) led 2-1 before Jerrod Fuell (L, 1-1) allowed consecutive singles to begin the inning ahead of the first of two sac flies, with Corey Smith's tying the game at 2-2. Ronnie Merrill and Nick Trzesniak singled to fill the bases before Sain drove a 3-2 pitch to fairly deep center to bring in Paul McAnaulty with the tie-breaking run.
Carolina had taken a 1-0 and 2-1 leads in the first two innings thanks to unearned runs against Mobile starter Mike Thompson. Jeremy Hermida grounded a single to right in the first to score Robert Andino with two outs, then an error by second baseman Jason Clements permitted Chris Bass to come in with two down.
Josh Johnson, who did not figure in the decision, allowed his only run in the first inning on a single by McAnaulty. Johnson pitched five innings, yielding five hits and striking out six, lowering his ERA from 1.84 to 1.73.
All three games in the series were decided by one run, with the Mudcats 10-2 in single-run games this season.
The Mudcats finished their longest road trip of the season at 7-3, and return home to begin a seven-game homestand against the Montgomery Biscuits Friday night at 7:15 PM ET protecting a 1/2 game lead on second place West Tenn in the Northern Division. West Tenn will host the BayBears (10-17) beginning Friday. Scott Olsen (3-0, 2.60) will oppose Montgomery's Scott Autrey (1-4, 6.84) in the opener. Carolina split four games with the Biscuits earlier in this road trip.
CAROLINA 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- 2 9 0 7
MOBILE 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 x --- 3 10 2 9
WP - Tucker (1-2)
LP - Fuell (1-1)
S - Thayer (4)
HR - None.
Att: 4,947
Time: 2:23
