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Biscuits fall to Braves, 4-3

MONTGOMERY - Michael Rosamond cleared the bases with a three-run triple in a four-run sixth inning and the Mississippi Braves (18-24, 49-62) hung on to top the host Montgomery Biscuits (22-20, 58-53), 4-3.

With the win, the Braves ended the nine-start winning streak of Biscuits starter Andy Sonnanstine (12-7). The righthander out of Kent State, honored earlier in the week as the TOPPS Southern League Pitcher of the Month for July, gave up all four runs (three earned) in 5 1/3 innings.

Mississippi starter Chris Waters (7-10) earned the victory, allowing only a Justin Ruggiano three-run homer in his six innings of work. It was Ruggiano's first home run as a member of the Biscuits.

A scoreless tie through five innings, Mississippi placed runners on second and third with one out in the top of the sixth. Montgomery chose to intentionally walk Jarrod Saltalamacchia, bringing Rosamond to the plate. In two previous at-bats against Sonnanstine (once with the bases loaded), the first baseman had struck out swinging. This time, however, he laced a line drive into the right-centerfield gap, ending Sonnanstine's evening. A Chairon Isenia passed ball would later score Rosamond with the decisive fourth run.

The Biscuits threatened in the ninth inning against Mississippi closer Zach Schreiber, with successive two-out singles from Jason Pridie and Elliot Johnson putting runners at the corners. But Schreiber struck out Jeremy Owens to end the game, recording his sixteenth save of the season.

The third game of the five-game series is scheduled for Sunday night at 5:05, with Montgomery lefthander Jason Cromer (1-4, 2.53) opposing Braves righthander Anthony Lerew (4-2, 1.44).

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Zebulon, NC --- The Florida Marlins have announced a series of player transactions affecting the Double-A Carolina Mudcats effective Sunday afternoon.

RHP Trevor Hutchinson has been activated from the disabled list, while IF Steve Gendron has been shipped to Jupiter of the Florida State League. The Marlins have signed catcher Jason Hill as a free agent, and he has been assigned to Carolina. Hill was an all-star catcher in 2005 with Chattanooga, and hit .296 with Carolina last year, fourth in the league in slugging percentage, extra base hits and doubles.

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Chattanooga, Tenn. - For the second consecutive game the Jacksonville Suns offense led the way with 12 runs and 14 hits as the Suns defeated the Chattanooga Lookouts Sunday by the score of 12-4.

The victory improved Jacksonville to 74-39 overall and 26-17 in the second half. Chattanooga fell to 67-46 overall and 23-20 in the second half. The Suns have equaled the season series against the Lookouts at 9-9.

Jacksonville opened the scoring in the second inning when Tydus Meadows hit a leadoff homerun over left-centerfield to make it 1-0 Suns.

Chattanooga answered right away in the bottom of the inning off of Suns starter Scott Elbert when Noochie Varner led off the frame with a solo homerun of his own that tied the game 1-1. Later in the inning Anderson Machado got enough of a ball to get it over the right field wall for a two-run homerun that made it 3-1 Lookouts.

From that point on it was all Jacksonville as Tydus Meadows and Craig Brazell came through with RBI doubles in the fourth inning that tied the game at 3-3.

It was Tydus Meadows again in the fifth inning that put the Suns ahead for good when he drove home two runs on a bouncing single up the middle to make it 5-3 Jacksonville.

Jacksonville's offensive barrage continued in the seventh inning off of Chattanooga reliever Brock Till when Anthony Raglani drove home two runs on an opposite field double to make it a 7-3 Suns lead. Craig Brazell later singled home another run to open an 8-3 advantage. The Brazell RBI was his 80th RBI of 2006, by far the best in the Southern League.

Carlos Guevara entered the game in the eighth inning for Chattanooga and threw a wild pitch for the first Suns run of the frame while later allowing an Anthony Raglani RBI single that extended the Suns lead to 10-3.

The Suns scored two more in the top of the ninth inning with RBI singles from Casey Hoorelbeke and Adam Greenberg off of Lookouts infielder Jeff Bannon that made it a 12-3 Suns lead. Chattanooga scored their last run in the ninth inning on a Rick Asadoorian RBI single that ended the scoring at 12-4.

Jacksonville's Scott Elbert improved to 4-2 in the victory after his seven inning, ten strikeout performance. Eddy Valdez fell to 7-7 in the loss.

The Suns and Lookouts meet for game four Monday at 7:15 p.m. Suns RH Danny Muegge will face Lookouts LH Camilo Vazquez. Fans can follow the action on AM 930 The Fox or online at jaxsuns.com or milb.com.

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The Suns' bats picked up where they left off last night, as they pounce the Lookouts 12-4. The last two games, Chattanooga pitching has allowed 26 runs and the offense has only scored five runs.

Today, the Lookouts got off to a fast start as they put three runs on the board in the bottom of the second, highlighted by a Noochie Varner lead off home run. Unfortunately, the Suns had other plans. Jacksonville scored one run in the second inning, two runs in the fourth and fifth innings, three in the seventh and two in each of the final two frames. Suns' left-fielder Tydus Meadows led the offensive explosion, as he went 3-5 with five RBI and two runs scored.

Lookouts' starter Eddy Valdez took the loss today as he threw five innings and allowed five runs on six hits. The bullpen did not fair any better as Brock Till and Carlos Guevara combined to allow five runs on six hits in three innings of work. Not wanting to waste any other bullpen arms, Lookouts' manager Jayhawk Owens sent infielder Jeff Bannon to the hill for an inning of work.

The Lookouts are back in action tomorrow night against the same Jacksonville Suns. Camilo Vasquez will start for the Lookouts against the Suns' Danny Muegge. Gates open at 5:30 and the first pitch is at 7:15.

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Zebulon, NC (August 6th)- Carolina scored five runs in the seventh inning to erase a 3-1 deficit as they went on to beat the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx 6-3 on Sunday afternoon. The loss is the fourth in a row by the Diamond Jaxx, who fall below .500 in the second half of the season.

The Diamond Jaxx had taken a 3-1 lead in the top of the seventh when the Mudcats stormed back in the bottom of the inning. Lee Mitchell led off the inning with a pinch-hit single off losing pitcher Thomas Atlee (2-4). Brian Cleveland followed with a single to put runners at first and second. One out later Kevin Randel slapped a single to center, loading the bases. Ryan Bear drew a bases loaded walk, driving in Mitchell to make it a 3-2 game. Brett Carroll gave the Mudcats a 4-3 lead with a two run double down the left field line. With two outs, Josh Pressley drove in two more runs with a single to center giving the Mudcats a 6-3 lead.

Trevor Hutchinson (1-3) picked up the win in his first appearance since coming off the DL. Hutchinson got the win despite giving up three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Christopher Young retired the final batter of the game to nail down his sixth save of the season.

Jake Fox led the Diamond Jaxx offense with two hits, including his fifth home run with the club. Fox drove in two of the three runs. Chris Walker, Miguel Negron and Richard Lewis had two hits each to help spur a twelve hit attack. The Diamond Jaxx stranded thirteen bases runners in the game.

Game four of the five game series takes place on Monday night at 6:15 CDT. RHP Federico Baez (2-0 2.10) gets the start for the Diamond Jaxx. Carolina will counter with righty Jose Garcia (3-5 3.09).

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MONTGOMERY - Biscuits newcomers Patrick Breen, Evan Longoria and Justin Ruggiano all homered, with Ruggiano's coming in the bottom of the tenth inning, giving host Montgomery (23-20, 59-53) a 9-8 walk-off triumph over the Mississippi Braves (18-25, 49-63).

The game-winning blast from Ruggiano off of Braves reliever Ryan Basner (4-5) overshadowed an uncharacteristically powerful Braves attack that also produced three roundtrippers.

The last was a Josh Burrus two-out grand slam in the eighth inning that gave the visitors a dramatic 8-6 lead. Coming off of a tense 4-3 win on Saturday night, Mississippi appeared to have seized a second straight game in Montgomery after losing 10 of its previous 11 games at Riverwalk Stadium in 2006.

But Biscuits phenoms Longoria and Reid Brignac produced consecutive two-out RBI singles in the bottom of the eighth to knot the score, setting up Ruggiano's heroics in extra innings.

Montgomery reliever Jeremy Flanagan (5-0), the sixth Biscuits pitcher of the game, earned the victory with a perfect top of the tenth.

The fourth game of the five-game series is scheduled for Sunday night at 5:05, with Montgomery lefthander Mike Prochaska (2-3, 5.60) opposing Braves righthander Matt Harrison (2-2, 3.92).

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MOBILE, AL Huntsville reliever Chris Mabeus walked four BayBears in the bottom of the eleventh inning Sunday, leading Mobile to a 4-3 win. They have now won two of the first three games against Huntsville, and remain four games behind Jacksonville for first place in the Southern League South Division. Huntsville led 3-0 until the bottom of the eighth inning, when Luis Cruz hit a three-run home run to tie the game.

Huntsville?s runs came early, with a run in the first inning on a Ryan Braun solo home run. The Stars second and third runs came in the second inning and neither team scored until the Cruz home run in the eighth. Huntsville starter Yovani Gallardo shut out the BayBears through six innings, allowing just two hits.

Jose Oyervidez (4-9) starts for the BayBears Monday. The Stars will counter with Jose Capellan, who will make a rehab assignment for the Milwaukee Brewers. All BayBears games can be heard on 1480 AM WABB, Comcast Cable Channel 18, and on the internet via mobilebaybears.com.

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Greenville, SC: Armand Gaerlan hit a solo homer to tie it in the eighth, and Rafael Arroyo had a two-run single to win it in the ninth for the Suns, 3-1 on Sunday.

The lone Greenville run came in the third off Guerra on back-to-back doubles. The first of which caused Jesus Gamero to go crashing through the wall, some 370 feet from the plate in right-center field. Gamero leaped up against the wall and slammed into the gated door to Greenville's bullpen. The door's latch was snapped by the force of Gamero's leap into it, and caused him and the ball to slam through the fence, and disappear into the bullpen as the door swung shut behind him. The runner kept going, but was called back to second on a grounds-ruled double. The umpires ruled that the ball was not over the fence but right at the top when it hit Gamero's glove at the same moment he smashed into and through the bullpen door. Gamero was not shaken up and stayed in the game.

Game two of the series is at 7:05pm on Monday night at West End Field, a new ballpark that is the exact replica in heighth and dimensions as Fenway Park in Boston. The Greenville Drive are a Red Sox affiliate. RHP Jeramy Simmons goes for the Suns. The Suns next home game is Thursday, against Greensboro at 7:05pm. Call the Suns office at 301-791-6266 for more information.

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Zebulon, NC --- Brett Carroll delivered a two-run double in the midst of five-run seventh inning as Carolina defeated West Tenn 6-3 at Five County Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

The game was scoreless thanks to a duel between Manu Olivera and Isaac Pavlik, who carried the shutout into the bottom of the sixth when a double play ball hit by Carroll scored Kevin Randel with the game's first run.

Olivera was relieved to begin the seventh, but Trevor Hutchinson quickly surrendered three runs, capped by a two-run homer by Jake Fox.

However, the Mudcats batted around in the bottom half, picking up a run on a bases loaded walk, followed by Carroll's double sending Hutchinson (W, 1-3) his first Double-A victory since 2004.

Scott Tyler and Christopher Young (S, 6) combined for the final two innings to cap the Mudcats' fourth straight win, matching their longest of the season.

Jose Garcia starts Monday night at 7:15 PM ET for Carolina in the fourth game of the five-game set.