SL1 Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp

Suns comeback falls short

Published on July 18, 2003 under Southern League (SL1)
Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp News Release


JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Suns were a base hit away from victory in a 4-3 loss to the Carolina Mudcats in front of 6,237 fans Friday at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

Mudcats closer Mike Flannery struck out B.J. Waszgis with runners in scoring position to end a late Suns threat. Jacksonville (46-50 overall, 15-12 second half) scored twice in the bottom of the ninth and had the tying and winning runs aboard, but lost back-to-back games for the first time since July 1-2. Flannery earned his 13th save.

Denny Bautista (4-0) pitched seven innings and allowed three hits while striking out a season-high 11 batters en route to earning the victory. The Suns managed two infield singles off Bautista until Derek Michaelis hit a home run to right center field to lead off the seventh inning.

Suns starter Tommy Farmer (5-8) lost despite pitching six innings allowing five hits and two earned runs. In the second inning, Farmer walked Pat Magness to lead off the inning and gave up successive singles to Chip Ambres and Jesus Medrano to load the bases. Brandon Harper grounded into a double play, which scored one run. Bautista followed with a sharply hit double to the left field wall which scored Ambres and gave Carolina (56-38, 14-12) a 2-0 lead.

Michaelis had two hits in the game which was delayed 50 minutes at the start because of threatening weather.

Right-hander Heath Totten (6-9, 3.96 ERA) is scheduled to face Mudcats righty Nic Ungs (0-1, 3.00) at 7:05 p.m. Saturday at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

ROYALS CALL UP DAWKINS: SS Gookie Dawkins who played with the Suns earlier this month before being traded to Kansas City, was recalled from Class AAA Omaha to the Royals on Friday when Royals 3B Joe Randa was placed on the disabled list. Randa is eligible to be activated Wednesday, so Dawkins' big-league stay may be short-lived. "We always want to make sure we're in a preparation mode rather than a reactionary mode," Royals general manager Allard Baird told MLB.com. "Gookie was a guy we knew could supply defense, especially in the middle of the diamond. We're moving him around, giving him a chance to play third. From an offensive standpoint, the staff at Triple-A has been trying to get him to be more of a line-drive-down type of guy. We just need to take his physical attributes to hit and develop those. If we do that, I think we have a valuable Major League player. He's definitely going to be able to help us in this time of need.

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Southern League Stories from July 18, 2003


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