SL1 Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp

Mudcats Defeat Suns 5-2

Published on August 23, 2011 under Southern League (SL1)
Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp News Release


ZEBULON, N.C. - The Jacksonville Suns (28-30, 65-63) fell 5-2 to the Carolina Mudcats (26-30, 49-78) at Five County Stadium on Tuesday night.

The Mudcats won behind the strong pitching of starter Justin Lehr (1-1), who went seven innings allowing an earned run on three hits. Jacksonville starter Brad Hand (10-4) took the loss while Mudcats reliever Donnie Joseph earned the save with a scoreless ninth.

Jacksonville had the early advantage, with a sacrifice fly from Jake Smolinski scoring Kevin Mattison to put the Suns ahead 1-0 in the top of the first. Mattison had reached on a walk to begin the ballgame, but Lehr retired the next 15 batters in order, and took a no-hitter into the sixth inning.

The Mudcats got Lehr the lead in the bottom of the first when Neftali Soto smashed a two-run homer over the left-field wall to go up 2-1. Carolina added to the lead against Hand in the bottom of the fifth when Quintin Berry brought home two runs on a single to put the score at 4-1.

Suns shortstop Chris Gutierrez broke up Lehr's no-hitter with a leadoff single to start the top of the sixth. Gutierrez would score from second when Carolina third baseman Henry Rodriguez committed a fielding error on a ball hit by Jim Negrych to cut the lead to 4-2 in the top of the sixth.

Hand pitched six innings giving up four runs on eight hits, striking out five while walking none. The Mudcats added a run in the bottom of the eighth off Suns reliever Chris Squires when Cody Puckett scored on a bases-loaded force out hit into by Eric Campbell to put the score at 5-2, which would be the final.

Jacksonville was limited to the two runs on three hits, with no Suns having a multi-hit game or an extra-base hit.

The Suns and Mudcats will play the fourth game of the five game series on Wednesday night at Five County Stadium. Left-handed pitcher Jose Alvarez (2-4, 5.51 ERA) will pitch for Jacksonville while right-hander Pedro Villarreal (6-3, 4.71 ERA) will pitch for Carolina. Wednesday's game will start at 7:15 p.m. ET, and fans can listen to the contest beginning at 7 p.m. with the U.F. & Shands Pregame Show on Jacksonville's WFXJ AM 930 the Fox and www.jaxsuns.com.

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Southern League Stories from August 23, 2011


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