Pearl, MS - After celebrities took center stage during pre-game ceremonies, Tracy McGrady and Deuce McAllister threw out first pitches and Whitney Duncan sang the National Anthem, the M-Braves lost to the Mobile BayBears, 4-1, in front of 2,507 fans Monday night.
Mobile scored twice in the second inning to put the home team in an early hole. Cyle Hankerd and Bryan Byrne hit back-to-back doubles to start the inning. Hankerd scored on Byrne's two-bagger and Byrne came to the plate on a single from Matt Tupman. They added another run in the fourth when Byrne scored on a double play ball by Tupman.
The BayBears tacked on another run in the fifth thanks to Evan Frey's efforts on the base paths. Frey singled and stole second to move into scoring position. He moved to third when Tim Gustafson's pickoff throw sailed into center field and he scored on a sac-fly by Mark Hallberg.
Eric Campbell's fifth homer of the year came in the eighth inning and made the score 4-1.
Gustafson gave up four runs, three earned, on six hits in six innings and fell to 1-3 on the season. Brett Butts threw two shutout innings and Steve Marek tossed a shutout inning.
Augenstein gave up a hit in three scoreless innings. Josh Ellis also threw three shutout innings to earn his fourth W of the year. Daniel Stange gave up a run in 1.2 innings and Leyson Septimo threw a scoreless 1.1 innings to earn his third save of the year.
The Braves and BayBears will play game two of this five-game series Tuesday night at Trustmark Park at 7:05. The Braves will send lefty Scott Diamond to the hill while the BayBears will counter with southpaw Tom Layne.
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