PCL1 Nashville Sounds

Sounds Open Season With 6-3 Victory Over Iowa

Published on April 8, 2010 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
Nashville Sounds News Release


DES MOINES, Iowa - Right fielder Brendan Katin blasted a pair of home runs to power the Nashville Sounds to a season-opening 6-3 victory over the division-rival Iowa Cubs on Thursday evening at Principal Park.

Katin, who closed out the 2009 campaign by smashing four homers in his final three games for Nashville, picked up right where he left off for the Sounds during his 2-for-4, three-RBI evening. Third baseman Adam Heether (2-for-3) also homered for Nashville, which won its opener for the first time since 2005.

Right-hander Kameron Loe (1-0) turned in a quality start in his Sounds debut, holding the I-Cubs to three runs (one earned) on four hits while striking out six batters over six-plus innings of work to earn the win. The 6-foot-8 hurler also went 2-for-3 at the plate in the contest.

Nashville (1-0) jumped on Iowa starter J.R. Mathes early, plating three runs in the top of the first inning. Norris Hopper led off the contest with a walk and scored two batters later when Trent Oeltjen doubled to left. Katin, who co-led Nashville with 24 home runs in 2009, increased the visitors' advantage to 3-0 when the Sounds' cleanup hitter belted a 1-1 Mathes offering over the left field wall for a two-run blast.

The Sounds added single runs in the second on a Hopper RBI single and in the third on Heether's two-out solo homer to left-center off Mathes to extend the lead to 5-0.

Iowa plated a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the third following a two-out Loe throwing error.

The Cubs pulled with 5-3 in the seventh. Bobby Scales led off with a walk and moved to second on a Matt Camp single, which chased Loe from the contest after an 89-pitch outing. Highly-touted left-hander Zach Braddock was summoned from the bullpen to make his Triple-A debut and struck out pinch-hitter Bryan LaHair before Sam Fuld lifted a sacrifice fly to center to plate Scales.

Braddock, who struck out the side on 14 pitches in the eighth, fanned four of the six batters he faced on the evening, retiring all of them.

Katin struck again in the eighth when he greeted Cubs reliever Jeff Stevens with his second four-bagger of the evening, a leadoff solo shot to left-center.

Right-hander Chris Smith, who paced Nashville with 17 saves last season, worked around a one-out walk in the bottom of the ninth to work a scoreless frame and notch his first stop of the year. Smith fanned the final two batters to cap off an 11-strikeout evening by the three Sounds hurlers.

Sounds second baseman Eric Farris also made his Class AAA debut in the contest and finished 0-for-5.

Mathes (0-1) absorbed the loss for Iowa after surrendering five runs on nine hits in his five frames of work.

The teams continue their season-opening series with another 6:35 p.m. matchup on Friday night at Principal Park. Left-hander Chuck Lofgren, an off-season Rule 5 pickup from the Cleveland Indians, makes his Brewers organization debut when he mans the bump for the Sounds to face Iowa right-hander Jay Jackson.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from April 8, 2010


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