SL1 Mississippi Braves

Cotts, Yofu Lead 3-2 Barons Win

April 5, 2003 - Southern League (SL1)
Mississippi Braves News Release


GREENVILLE, S.C. _ Neal Cotts opened the game with five strong innings and Tetsu Yofu closed it by stifling a late Greenville rally Friday night, leading the Birmingham Barons to a 3-2 Southern League victory.

Cotts (1-0), a 23-year-old lefty, allowed two hits while striking out six over the first five innings. Yofu, 29, earned the save by stopping an eighth-inning Greenville threat and pitching a perfect ninth.

Four Birmingham pitchers held Greenville to six hits as the defending Southern League champs won the second of a four-game series.

Birmingham center fielder Daylon Holt, who along with Cotts was acquired by the Chicago White Sox in a December trade with Oakland, ended a Greenville threat in the sixth inning with a diving catch of Cory Aldridge's sinking line drive. Tetsu Yofu earned his first save of the season by choking a Greenville rally in the eighth inning and pitching a 1-2-3 ninth.

Greenville rallied in the bottom of the eighth, when Adam LaRoche greeted Matt Smith with a home run to left. After Aldridge reached on an infield error, Kelly Johnson drove him home with a double off the right-field wall..

The threat ended when Yofu, the fourth Birmingham pitcher of the night, struck out James Jurries and Johnson was thrown out at third on an attempted steal.

Scott Bikowski's two-run double gave Birmingham a first-inning lead for the second straight night. Juan Pinella's eighth-inning single drove in Gabe Alvarez to give the Barons a 3-0 lead.

Paul Byrd, a 17-game winner in the major leagues last year, is scheduled to start for Greenville in Saturday's third game of the four-game series. Byrd, an eight-year major league veteran, is on a rehabilitation assignment from the Atlanta club.

The 7:15 p.m. game will feature an appearance by Jerry Lewis impersonator Myron Noodleman. The first 500 fans will receive a free Greenville Braves cap. The series concludes with a 1:15 p.m. game Sunday.

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Southern League Stories from April 5, 2003


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