SL1 Mississippi Braves

M-Braves Rally Again for 1-0 Series Lead

Published on September 8, 2008 under Southern League (SL1)
Mississippi Braves News Release


The M-Braves traveled to Zebulon, NC for game one of the Southern League Championship Series Monday night. The Braves and Mudcats were knotted at four after nine innings and the Braves won it in 10. Van Pope drew a two-out walk and scored from first on a double by JC Boscan to give the Braves the win.

Carolina jumped on the board in the bottom of the first. Manuel Mayorson started the rally with a single to left-center and he moved to second on a two-out single by Gaby Sanchez. Cameron Maybin then doubled to right field scoring Mayorson from second.

Mississippi knotted the score at one in the top of the second. Kala Ka'aihue singled to center to start the inning and he moved to second when Reid Gorecki drew a walk. Van Pope was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Ka'aihue scored on a sac-fly by JC Boscan.

Carolina regained the lead in the third after a Chris Coghlan doubled started the inning. Sanchez ripped a double to right-center that scored Coghlan easily to put the Mudcats back on top.

The Mudcats added another couple of runs in the fourth. Carolina's pitcher, Willie Glen, led off with a single up the middle. John Raynor then reached on a fielding error to put two runners on with no outs. Mayorson bunted them both up a bag and, with two outs in the inning, Sanchez singled to left scoring both Glen and Raynor to give the Mudcats a 4-1 lead.

The Braves cut the lead to 4-2 in the top of the fifth. Boscan reached on an error and moved to third on a double by JC Holt. Boscan scored on a groundout by Javier Guzman to cut the lead in half.

The M-Braves cut into the lead again in the sixth. Jordan Schafer ripped a one-out double to get it going in the sixth. With two outs, Van Pope shot a single through the left side scoring Schafer from second. After six, Carolina led 4-3.

Mississippi finally tied the score in the top of the eighth. Kala Ka'aihue led off the frame with his first home run of the postseason and the two teams were knotted at four.

The score remained tied until the top of the 10th. Mississippi native Van Pope drew a two-out walk to get things started. With JC Boscan at the plate, Pope took off for second. Boscan ripped a double down the right field line and Pope scored from first to give Mississippi its first lead of the game, 5-4.

Deunte Heath got the start for the M-Braves and had a solid outing considering he hadn't pitched in over a week. Heath gave up four runs, two earned, on nine hits over four innings. Johnny Venters came on in the fifth and threw a scoreless inning. Sung Ki Jung walked two and struck out two in his scoreless inning. Bryan Dumesnil tossed a scoreless seventh and Steve Marek didn't allow a run through 1.2 innings. Marek left with an injury in the bottom of the ninth. Luis Valdez came on for Marek and retired the lone batter he faced in the ninth. Valdez then retired the side in order in the bottom of the 10th to earn his first win of the playoffs.

Willie Glen gave up two runs, one earned, on four hits over five innings of work. Jesus Delgado allowed a run in two-thirds of an inning and Timothy Wood threw a scoreless third. Ryan Tucker gave up a run in his two innings and Todd Doolittle gave up a run in his inning on the hill and fell to 0-1 in the playoffs.

The Braves and Mudcats will play game two of this Southern League Championship Series Tuesday night in Carolina at 6:15 ct. Mississippi's Todd Redmond will take on Carolina's Aaron Thompson in game two.

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Southern League Stories from September 8, 2008


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