truebluefan

MONTGOMERY - Elliot Johnson's second hit of the fifth inning, an RBI single, capped off a six-run explosion that catapulted the Montgomery Biscuits (14-9, 50-42) past the Carolina Mudcats (9-14, 41-52), 7-1, on Friday night at Riverwalk Stadium.

The six-run fifth was the largest inning for Montgomery all year long and came in the midst of a 15-hit output that tied a season-high for the offense.

An RBI single from Matthew Maniscalco in the second inning put the home team on the board early with a 1-0 lead.

Three innings later, the Biscuits erased any thoughts of a pitcher's duel between Montgomery starter Jason Cromer and Carolina starter Trevor Hutchinson.

Elliot Johnson led off the fateful fifth with a double to left off of Hutchinson (0-1). Johnny Raburn beat out a bunt for an infield hit with Johnson taking third, allowing the speedster to score on a Gabriel Martinez sacrifice fly. Michael Coleman singled home Raburn for the second run of the inning, quickly followed up by a Ryan Christianson single and a Jason Pridie RBI double that sent Hutchinson to the showers.

Ryan Knox wasted no time in greeting new reliever Chris Mobley with a base hit up the middle, scoring both Christianson and Pridie for a 6-0 Biscuits lead. After a Jeremy Owens strikeout, two consecutive singles by Maniscalco and Johnson produced the final Montgomery run. At last, Mobley retired Raburn on a groundout to second to mercifully end the inning.

Biscuits starter Cromer (1-1) had none of Hutchinson's troubles, skating through six innings with just three hits allowed, striking out five Mudcats batters along the way.

In the seventh, Carolina avoided the shutout, thanks to a Kevin Randel run-scoring single off of reliever Jeremy Flanagan.

Mike Prochaska took over for Flanagan to throw a perfect eighth, before Brian Henderson wrapped up the night in style, striking out the side in the ninth to end the game.

Having won the last two games in the five-game series at Montgomery, the Biscuits look for the series victory on Saturday night at 7:05. Righthander Jim Magrane (10-7, 3.27) will take the mound for the Biscuits, opposed by Carolina's Jose Garcia (2-2, 2.67).