Carolina 4, Montgomery 3 (11)

Zebulon, NC- The Carolina Mudcats (15-15) needed late inning heroics for the second consecutive night to defeat the Montgomery Biscuits 4-3 in 11 innings at Five County Stadium.

While Johnny Raburn’s sacrifice fly ended the game, it was a Jai Miller double in the inning that set it up. After a leadoff hit by Brett Hayes, the Biscuits (20-10) were expecting a Miller bunt. Miller took the pitch up the left field line, placing runners at second and third with nobody out.  Richard DeLosSantos (L, 1-4) struck out Rex Rundgren, then intentionally walked Dante Brinkley to fill the bases.  DeLosSantos went to a 3-1 count before Raburn hit a flyball to center with enough depth to score Hayes easily.

Carolina overcame a 3-0 deficit early in the game to score four unanswered runs. Raburn started the scoring in the third inning when his one-out triple scored Miller and Rundgren.  The Mudcats tied the game in the sixth when Ryan Bear drove in Chase Lambin with a single near the right field line.

The game needed extra innings but excellent bullpen pitching by both sides to shut down the bats. Mudcats starter James Russ went five innings giving up three runs, all in the third.

The biggest hit on the night for Montgomery came off Fernando Perez’s bat in the third. Perez’s triple scored two runs and was eventually brought home to give the Biscuits a 3-0 lead. After that Montgomery would close the game going three for 27 at the plate.

Matt Yourkin, Scott Nestor, Carlos and Chris Mobley combined to pitch six shutout innings, with Mobley earning the win.  Mobley improves his record 6-0 and earns a win for the second night in a row.

Carolina will travel to Tennessee for a five game road trip starting Monday at Smokies Park. Monday will feature Chris Seddon (4-7, 5.00) for Carolina opposing Justin Berg (4-7, 5.35). All games will start at 7:15.

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