SL1 Birmingham Barons

Barons Outduel BayBears, 2-1

July 12, 2003 - Southern League (SL1)
Birmingham Barons News Release


BIRMINGHAM, AL – The Birmingham Barons rallied for two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to beat the Mobile BayBears 2-1 in come-from-behind fashion in front of 4,783 fans on Friday evening at the Hoover Met.

Mobile starter, Roger Deago tossed 5.1 solid innings without allowing a run and struck out eight and was matched by an equally strong start by Barons starter Enemencio Pacheco. Pacheco went 5.0 innings and gave up just one unearned run. Despite their respective starts neither would factor into the decision as the bullpens took over in the sixth inning.

Mobile scored an early run in the third off of Pacheco when Freddy Guzman singled and Humberto Quintero advanced to third and scored on a throwing error by second baseman Tommy Nicholson. After that, Pacheco and the Barons bullpen trio of Ryan Meaux, Matt Smith and Jim Bullard held the BayBears scoreless.

Down one run going into the bottom of the eighth, the Barons plated two runs with some fundamentally sound baseball. Jon Hamilton pinch-hit for Juan Piniella to lead off the inning and singled to right with two strikes in the count. He was moved to second on a perfect sacrifice bunt by Jeremy Reed and then scored the tying run on a double by Gabe Alvarez. Carlos Maldonado was intentionally walked and Guillermo Reyes drew a walk against reliever Bryan Gaal to load the bases and bring Nicholson to the plate. He atoned for the throwing error earlier in the game by lifting a deep sacrifice fly to center to plate Alvarez with the go-ahead run.

Smith (3-1) picked up the win after striking out the only batter he faced to end the top of the eighth and Bullard recorded his first save of the season by pitching a perfect ninth. Gaal (1-4) picked up the loss after surrendering the two runs.

The Barons travel to Mobile for a short two-game series starting tomorrow and will send out RHP Kris Honel (0-0, 0.00) to face RHP Steve Watkins (5-4, 4.26). Honel, the White Sox number one pick in 2001, will be making his Double-A debut as he makes a spot start in place of Neal Cotts who is temporarily inactive so that he can pitch in the MLB futures game. Game time is 7:05 PM with all the play-by-play on 101.1 FM with Curt Bloom on the call.

Check out the Birmingham Barons Statistics



Southern League Stories from July 12, 2003


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central