PCL1 Nashville Sounds

Nix Called Up After Leading Sounds To 6-1 Win

Published on August 18, 2006 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Nashville Sounds News Release


NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Outfielder Laynce Nix made the most of his Nashville farewell on Friday evening at Greer Stadium, pacing the Sounds' 6-1 win over the New Orleans Zephyrs by going 2-for-5 with two RBIs and slugging his team-leading 17th home run. He was promoted to Milwaukee following the game.

With its third win in a row, Nashville (68-59) increased its lead over Iowa to five games in the PCL American Conference Northern Division. The Cubs dropped their sixth straight contest, falling at Round Rock.

Sounds starter Dana Eveland (4-4) put together his fourth quality start in his last six outings, hurling six innings of one-run, two-hit baseball en route to picking up his fourth win of the season. The win snapped a 14-start winless stretch for the southpaw, which included five starts for Milwaukee and nine starts with Nashville.

The Nashville offense was paced by Nix, but Jermaine Clark had a night for the record books at the plate despite not recording an official at-bat. Clark tied the franchise record for most walks in a game with four. He is the 14th Sound to accomplish this feat in the club's 29-year history and the second this year; Graham Koonce walked four times on July 13 versus Memphis.

For the first time this series, the Zephyrs jumped on the board first by plating a run in the top half of the first. With two outs, Marlon Byrd hit a 2-2 Eveland offering over the left-center field fence giving the Zephyrs an early one-run lead.

The Zephyrs' lead was short lived as the Sounds etched two runs in the home half of the first. After Tony Gwynn led the inning off a walk, Nix belted his second home run in as many contests against the Z's to give the Sounds a 2-1 lead.

For the second night in a row, the Sounds took the lead off a Nix first at-bat home run. The home run was his team-leading 17th of the season, his fourth longball in his past six games, and his seventh in his 18 games with Nashville. The roundtripper increased his current hitting streak to seven games.

Nix finished his Nashville tenure with a .412 average (28-for-68) and 13 RBIs in his 18 games. Thirteen of his Sounds hits went for extra bases. On the year at the Triple-A level, Nix batted .297 (105-for-354) with 17 home runs and 68 RBIs in 95 games split between Nashville and Oklahoma (AAA-Rangers).

The Sounds increased their lead to three runs by notching a single run in both the sixth and seventh inning. In the sixth, New Orleans brought in rehabbing Felix Rodriguez in relief of starter Steve Watkins. Rodriguez was unable to help the Zephyrs as he loaded the bases after intentionally walking Clark to get to Chad Moeller.

With one out and the bases loaded, Moeller was unable to produce any runs as Rodriguez struck him out for the second out. Pinch-hitter Zach Sorensen followed with a walk on six pitches, allowing Koonce to cross home giving the Sounds a two-run lead.

The Sounds increased their lead to 4-1 in the seventh with back-to-back doubles off the bats of Nix and Koonce. With one out, Nix hit a ground-rule double over the right field fence and then crossed home on a Koonce double to right-center.

Dennis Sarfate came into the game in the seventh inning in relief of Eveland and threw 1 2/3 innings of shutout baseball.

The Z's attempted to climb back into the game in the eighth inning with their first multiple-hit inning of the game. With two outs, Alberto Castillo singled and then advanced to second on a Josh Labandeira single. With two outs and runners on first and second, Mitch Stetter came into the game and hit Tyrell Godwin to load the bases. Allan Simpson was then summoned in relief of Stetter and was able to get Kenny Kelly to pop out to right field to get the Sounds out of the inning untouched.

The Sounds' offense never rested, plating two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning. With runners on first and second and Gwynn at the plate, the Sounds called for a hit and run that resulted in two runs. As the runners took off, Gwynn slapped a single in between the third baseman and the shortstop. Ladandeira, the shortstop, was able to track the ball down in shallow left field and attempted to throw Clark out at home, but the throw bounced just short of the dish and skipped past the catcher, allowing both Clark and Kennard Bibbs, the trailing runner, to score.

Gwynn's single snapped an 0-for-16 hitless streak and brought the score to its final 6-1.

Watkins (6-6) took the loss for New Orleans after allowing two runs on two hits over five innings.

Simpson recorded the final four outs for Nashville to notch his tenth save of the year, joining Alec Zumwalt (14) in double digits in that department.

The Sounds continue their homestand on Saturday evening when they begin a four-game series versus the Albuquerque Isotopes at 6 p.m. Nashville will send right-hander Justin Lehr (3-6,4.18) to the bump and the Isotopes will give the ball to southpaw Chris George (3-5, 5.68).

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Pacific Coast League Stories from August 18, 2006


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