PCL1 New Orleans Baby Cakes

Z's Fly Past Redbirds on Sammons' Homer in 13th

Published on April 9, 2012 under Pacific Coast League (PCL1)
New Orleans Baby Cakes News Release


Clint Sammons' towering fly ball down the left field line in the bottom of the 13th inning barely tucked inside the foul poul for a walk-off, two-run homer to give the New Orleans Zephyrs a 5-3 win over the Memphis Redbirds on Monday night at Zephyr Field.

One pitch after Sammons connected for a long foul ball against Redbirds reliever Adam Reifer, the Zephyrs' catcher, who entered the game as a defensive replacement an inning earlier, ended the 13-inning contest with his first home run of the season.

Ben Lasater got the winning rally started with a line drive over the head of shortstop Ryan Jackson, just the Zephyrs' second hit since the fifth inning. After Chris Aguila lined out to third, Sammons followed with his first home run since last April 24.

The Zephyrs earned their second walk-off victory in the first five games of the season, and won for the fourth time despite getting out-hit 14-9. New Orleans has been out-hit in each of their four victories.

The Z's got on the board in the first inning when Bryan Petersen flared a single into left field, then scored on Donovan Solano's double.

The lead was quickly erased on Amaury Cazana's two-run homer in the top of the second, and Cedric Hunter's solo homer in the fifth extended the Redbirds' advantage to 3-1.

New Orleans responded in the bottom of the fifth, again sparked by a leadoff single by Petersen. Scott Cousins laced a one-out triple into the right field corner, and scored on a sacrifice fly to knot the score at 3-3, where it remained for eight more innings.

Beau Jones pitched 2 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Zephyrs starter J.D. Martin, and Chris Hatcher struck out four batters over two scoreless frames.

Rob Delaney worked out of jams in both the 10th and 11th innings, stranding two baserunners in each inning, and Elih Villanueva got Jackson to fly out to right with the bases loaded in the 13th to keep the score tied.

Memphis left 14 runners on base, as the Zephyrs' bullpen has now turned in 19 2/3 consecutive scoreless innings.

Villanueva (2-0) picked up his second victory in as many outings, while Reifer (0-1) was saddled with the loss.

The series continues Tuesday at 7 pm, with the Zephyrs sending Alex Sanabia to the mound to face Redbirds right-hander Brandon Dickson.

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Pacific Coast League Stories from April 9, 2012


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