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M-Braves Lose a Wild One in Suns' Walkoff, 8-7

July 20, 2012 - Southern League (SL) Mississippi Braves

Jacksonville, FL - Jimmy Pertusati's bases-loaded two-out single erased a Mississippi Braves lead and gave the Jacksonville Suns an 8-7 win all in the same swing.

In a seesaw affair that saw four lead changes and and four home runs, the Suns (13-14; 46-51) were down to their final out against Mark Lamm. After Paul Gran singled to lead off the inning, Lamm struck out Kyle Jensen for the first out. Kyle Skipworth walked and was pinch run for by Donnie Webb. Dan Lasater then walked to load the bases. Former Mississippi Brave Shawn Bowman popped out to third to set up Pertusati's walk-off to right field.

It was the third blown save and fourth loss of the season for Lamm.

The ending was just the finale to the fireworks show. The Braves (9-17; 39-57) lit up starter James Leverton. Tim Smith led off the second inning with a solo home run to right, and two batters later Christian Marrero did the same staking the Braves to a 2-0 lead. In the third, Christian Bethancourt smacked his first home run of the season, a solo job to left-center to make it 3-0.

That set up the Suns' first comeback. Three runs in the bottom of the third tied the game again. Chris Gutierrez got the first hit off of starter David Hale, a double to left. He scored on the first of three Gran singles on the night, and Kyle Skipworth two batters later hit a 2-1 Hale offering over the right-field wall for his 11th home run of the year.

In the top of the fifth, the Braves took back the lead after Phil Gosselin tripled to start the inning. Jason Christian drove him in with a single to center, making it 4-3 Mississippi. In the bottom of the fifth, the Suns took their first lead. Gutierrez walked and Skipworth and Lasater hit back to back doubles to drive in the tying and go-ahead runs respectively.

Mississippi came back in the sixth and stole the lead away. Joey Terdoslavich doubled and scored on Joe Leonard's one-out single. Leonard moved up to third on a Marrero single before Phil Gosselin hit a sacrifice fly to center, putting the Braves ahead 6-5.

After Jacksonville tied the game at six in the bottom of the seventh on a Shawn Bowman single, Mississippi took the lead again in the eighth on Alden Carrithers' pinch-hit sacrifice fly, plating Leonard from third.

Jon Link picked up his first win in his first appearance as a Sun. It was also Pertusati's first appearance with Jacksonville. In all, three different pitchers took a blown save on the night, including Lamm and Chris Jones for the Braves and Mike Ojala for the Suns.

The Braves try to snap their three-game losing streak on Friday night in game two with the Suns from the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. First pitch is scheduled for 6:05 PM CT, as left-hander Brent Leach takes his 0-2 record and 1.59 ERA to the hill for Mississippi. Listen live at 103.9 WYAB and online at MississippiBraves.com beginning at 5:30 PM CT with the Vicksburg Toyota "Countdown to First Pitch".

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Southern League Stories from July 20, 2012


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