
Suns catcher Kyle Skipworth hit two doubles, drove in two runs and scored twice in a 9-0 win over the Mobile BayBears May 30, 2012 at the Baseball Grounds. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
The Jacksonville Suns won the series finale over the Lookouts 4-3 at AT&T Field May 27, 2012. Photo Courtesy: Chattanooga Lookouts
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Jacksonville Suns catcher Kyle Skipworth hit for the cycle including a grand slam against the Chattanooga Lookouts May 26, 2012 at AT&T Field. Photo Courtesy: MiLB.com
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Lookouts right fielder Blake Smith hit a solo home run in the third inning off of Suns starter Graham Taylor. Smith leads Chattanooga with seven home runs and 28 runs batted in. Photo Courtesy: Chattanooga Lookouts
By Steve Kolbe
The Jacksonville Suns struck out a season-high 17 times and ended up on the wrong side of a 14-inning affair on Friday night, with the Lookouts winning 5-4 at AT&T Field in Chattanooga. The Suns lost in extra innings for the first time this season and are now 2-1 when working overtime, with all three of the games on the road. The Lookouts have gone into extra innings five times in their last 11 games. Chattanooga is now 3-3 in extra-inning games this season.
The Suns scored the first run of the game in the second inning against Lookouts starter Chris Withrow, when Shawn Bowman walked to lead off the inning and later scored on a single by Russell Mitchell to give Jacksonville a 1-0 advantage. Mitchell has driven in nine runs this season.
The Lookouts used the long ball to take the lead in the bottom half of the second against Suns starter Graham Taylor. After Brahiam Maldonado led off the home half of the inning with a single, Pedro Baez smashed his second home run of the season over the left field fence, a two-run blast that put the Lookouts in front 2-1.
In the third inning, the Lookouts flexed their muscle again when Blake Smith hit a solo home run to right field off of Taylor to increase the lead to 3-1. Taylor has given up a team-high seven home runs this season.
Jacksonville cut into the lead in the fourth when Shawn Bowman led off inning by reaching base again, this time with a single. Playing in his second straight game, catcher Jake Jefferies drove in Bowman with his second double of the year, and the Suns trailed 3-2.
In the fifth, the Suns reclaimed the lead when Paul Gran walked, and Jake Smolinski reached on an error by shortstop Jake Lemmerman. With two on and one out, Bowman continued his strong night at the plate when he doubled into the gap in right-center field, with Gran scoring from second and Smolinski hustling around from first to give the Suns a 4-3 edge. That would be the last run of the night. After scoring four runs on four hits in the first five innings, the Suns had just three hits in the games final nine innings.
In the home half of the seventh, Rafael Ynoa led off the inning with his first triple of the season. He wasn’t on base for long, with Nick Buss driving him in with a single on a two strike pitch to tie the game 4-4. Ynoa would later leave the game after he was injured on a head first slide into first base.
In the fourteenth inning, lead off hitter Nick Buss was hit by a Josh Schmidt pitch and Luis Nunez singled to left. After a ground out by J.T. Wise, the Suns walked Blake Smith intentionally to load the bases and take their chances with the pitcher, Blake Johnson. With Chattanooga out of position players, Johnson was forced to grab a bat and take a trip to the plate. With the Suns infield in, Johnson helped his own cause with his first hit of the season, sending a grounder back up the middle for the game-winning RBI to give the Lookouts a 5-4 victory. In the series Lookouts pitchers have five hits against the Suns, with at least one hit in every game.
This season, 20 of Jacksonville’s first 48 games have been decided by a single run, with the Suns 10-10 in those games. The Suns won eight of their first 12 one-run games this year, but have won just two of the last eight games decided by the smallest of margins.
Suns starter Graham Taylor took the mound at 7:20 p.m. for his tenth start of the season. He allowed four runs on 10 hits over six innings and was long gone when the game ended four hours and nine minutes later. Relievers Kyle Kaminska, A.J. Ramos, and Bobby Bramhall combined to pitch seven scoreless innings. Josh Schmidt allowed two hits and the game-winning run the 14th inning to fall to 1-3 on the season.
Chris Withrow started the game for the Lookouts, and allowed four runs on four hits over five innings. Before the night was over, Lookouts manager Carlos Subero had made six calls to the bullpen. In the end, Blake Johnson pitched two hitless innings to earn the win and improve to 2-3. Both teams combined to use a dozen pitchers. For the Lookouts, only Luis Vasquez and Allen Webster were left in the bullpen at the end of the night. Zach Neal, Wade Korpi, and Evan Reed were the only Suns hurlers not to have their names called.
Jacksonville hitters struck out a season-high 17 times on Friday. In five of the last eight games, Suns batters have struck out at least 11 times. Shawn Bowman went 3-for-4, drove in two of the Suns four runs and scored twice. Jake Jefferies, Russell Mitchell, Danny Black, and Paul Gran each had one hit.
The Lookouts tied a season-high with 16 hits with 11 players with at least one hit on the night. Pedro Baez, Luis Nunez, Blake Smith, Jake Lemmerman, and Chris Withrow each finished with two hits apiece.
Chattanooga has taken the first three games of the series, and won a season-high six straight games. For the second time in the series the Suns scored the first run but ended up on the losing end. Jacksonville is now 17-4 this season when scoring the first run of the game. The Suns have been outscored 19-9 during their four game losing streak, and overall the Suns have just five wins in 21 games and have fallen into fifth place in the South Division. The Lookouts increased their season-high winning streak to six games.
Game four of the series is Saturday night with the first pitch slated for 7:15 p.m. from AT&T field in Chattanooga, Tennessee. RHP Matthew Neil (0-0, 3.60) will make his second start of the season for the Suns. Neil made his double-A debut May 20 against Pensacola, allowing two runs on five hits over five innings and did not figure in the decision. The Lookouts will send RHP Nathon Eovaldi (2-2, 3.18) to the mound for his ninth start of the season.
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Lookouts starting pitcher Matt Magill allowed just two hits and struck out ten batters over seven innings to improve his record to 4-2. Photo Courtesy: Chattanooga Lookouts
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Lookouts center fielder Nick Buss had two hits and drove in two runs with his fifth triple of the season against the Suns on Wednesday at AT&T Field. Photo Courtesy: Chattanooga Lookouts
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Blue Wahoos starting pitcher Tim Crabbe gave up just two hits in six scoreless innings and struck out six against the Suns to earn his second win of the season. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Shawn Bowman drove in the game tying run in the eighth inning against the Blue Wahoos with a pinch hit double in the Suns 4-3 win at the Baseball Grounds. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
The Jacksonville Suns spotted the Pensacola Blue Wahoos a 3-0 lead on Sunday afternoon, but rallied for a 4-3 win at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. The last three games in the series have all been decided by one run.
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Suns right fielder Kyle Jensen drove in two runs with a double in the seventh inning. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos jumped out to a big lead over the Jacksonville Suns and held on for a 6-5 win at the Baseball Grounds on Saturday night. The Suns have now lost seven of the last eight home games.
In a rough first inning for Suns starter Graham Taylor, the first three batters of the game for Pensacola had a hit. Ryan LaMarre led off the game with a double, and Didi Gregorius singled to put runners on first and third. Brodie Greene delivered the game’s first run with a single to give Pensacola a 1-0 lead. With one out, David Vidal singled to left field with Gregorius scoring to increase the lead to 2-0. In the inning, the Blue Wahoos had scored two runs on five hits.
The Blue Wahoos doubled their lead in the fifth, when Joel Guzman swung at the first pitch he saw from Taylor and hit his sixth home run of the season, a two-run blast into the right field stands. Guzman has plenty of power, he led all of double-A baseball in 2010 when he hit 33 home runs for the Bowie Baysox. It’s the fourth home run that Graham Taylor has allowed this season.
While his teammates padded the lead, Pensacola starter Kyle Lotzkar cruised through four innings allowing just two singles. He was replaced by reliever Mark Serrano in the fifth inning. The only two Suns players with hits against Lotzkar were Jake Smolinski and Chris Gutierrez. After the game, Gutierrez was promoted to triple-A New Orleans.
Pensacola scored two more runs in the seventh off of reliever Kyle Kaminska to take command of the game. LaMarre once again led off the inning with his second double of the game, and Brodie Greene drove him in to make it 5-0. Joel Guzman then singled to drive in Greene for a 6-0 Pensacola advantage.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Suns came to life against a Pensacola bullpen struggling with control. Paul Gran led off the inning when he was hit in the shoulder by Mark Serrano. Jeff Dominguez singled moving Gran to third, and Dominguez took second on a throw to the infield. Jake Smolinski knocked in the Suns first run with an infield single for his 10th run batted in this season to make it 6-1. With two outs, Kyle Jensen double to left and to drive in two runs with Dominguez and Smolinski scoring to cut the lead in half with the Blue Wahoos in front 6-3.
Reliever Wilkin De La Rose entered the game and struggled to find the plate. He walked three straight batters as Jake Jefferies, Russell Mitchell, and pinch-hitter Curt Smith all were given a free pass. Smith’s walk came with the bases loaded to force in a run, and the Suns trailed 6-4. Paul Gran started the inning when he was hit by a pitch, and at the plate for the second time in the inning he was hit by the first pitch from De La Rosa to force in another run and Jacksonville had cut the Blue Wahoos lead to 6-5. The Suns sent 11 men to the plate and scored five runs on just three hits in the inning.
The Suns stranded a season-high 13 runners on base, and twice during the night left the bases loaded. Jacksonville center fielder Ryan Patterson struck out and flied out with the bases loaded and is now 0-for-4 this season with the bases full.
Suns starter Graham Taylor pitched six innings, allowing eight hits and four runs to fall to 2-4. He had allowed a total of four runs in his last two starts. Taylor is 1-3 at the Baseball Grounds this season. Mark Serrano pitched two and a-third innings, allowing one hit and two runs and earned the win to improve his record to 3-0. Donnie Joseph pitched the ninth for his league-leading ninth save of the season. He has closed the door on the Suns in each of the last two games.
With the loss, Jacksonville is now 8-15 at the Baseball Grounds this season. The Suns fell to 3-21 when allowing the first run of the game, and are now 9-9 in games decided by a single run. Jacksonville is 3-10 against team’s from the South Division in the month of May.
The Blue Wahoos collected 13 hits on the night, with eight players recording at least one. Ryan LaMarre finished 3-for-4 with two doubles and scored two runs. LaMarre is batting .306 on the road this season with 15 runs scored, 10 extra-base hits, and six stolen bases. LaMarre swiped his 12th base of the season on Saturday, and is now seventh in the league in stolen bases. Brodie Greene, Joel Guzman, and David Vidal had two hits apiece. For the Suns, Jeff Dominguez and Jake Smolinski each finished 2-for-4 with a run scored. Kyle Jensen drove in two runs for the Suns. Paul Gran, Curt Smith, and Jake Smolinski each drove in a run.
The Suns will look to get back on track on Sunday afternoon with new arrival Matt Neil on the mound. The right-hander is schedule to make his first start double-A start. RHP Daniel Corcino (2-2, 3.64) takes the hill for his ninth start of the year for Pensacola. The first pitch from the Baseball Grounds is 3:05PM ET and can be seen on CW-17 in Jacksonville.
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News