West Tenn Diamond Jaxx, Rich Dorman Make Easy Work of Jacksonville Suns 5-1
Saturday, April 5, 2008 at 03:43PM MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – JACKSONVILLE, FLA. – Veteran West Tenn starter Rich Dorman pitched six shutout innings and retired 14 Suns hitters in a row to end his night, leading the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx (1-1) to a 5-1 victory over the Jacksonville Suns (1-1) in front of 6,539 on Friday night at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.
Dorman (1-0), entering his eighth minor league season, picked up the win for West Tenn while Clayton Kershaw (0-1) fell in his first outing of 2008 for Jacksonville. Brodie Downs (1) saved the game for West Tenn with two and one-thirds innings of relief for the Diamond Jaxx.
Jacksonville opened the scoring against Dorman in the second inning when Russell Mitchell grounded out to second base to drive home Jamie Hoffmann for a 1-0 lead. Hoffmann had reached on an error by the shortstop with one out, stole second base, and moved to third on a Dorman balk on the pitch before the Mitchell groundout.
ADVERTISEMENT The Suns lost the lead in the top of the third inning when West Tenn came back to work against Suns starter Clayton Kershaw. After a leadoff strikeout, Mark Kiger drew a base on balls. Mike Saunders struck out before Shawn Garrett singled home Kiger to tie the score at 1-1. Adam Moore next grounded a ball to the shortstop, but the Ivan DeJesus throw was mishandled by first baseman Rene Rivera, allowing Garrett to score on the error for a 2-1 West Tenn lead. Kershaw got out of the inning by picking off Moore for the final out, but was pulled from the game following the frame.
The 20-year-old Suns starter pitched three innings with two runs, one earned, on two hits with two walks and four strikeouts in his 2008 debut.
West Tenn continued the attack in the fourth inning against reliever Rick Asadoorian. Following a West Tenn groundout to leadoff the inning, the Diamond Jaxx loaded the bases on a Prentice Redman bunt single, Luis Valbuena hit and a Luis Oliveros fielder’s choice combined with a throwing error. Ronnie Prettyman next grounded out to shortstop to score Redman for a 3-1 lead. Asadoorian later dealt a wild pitch allowing Valbuena to score for a 4-1 West Tenn advantage.
On the other side, Rich Dorman settled in after allowing the second inning run putting down 14 consecutive Suns hitters to end his night. The 29-year-old journeyman pitched six innings with one unearned run on one hit with one walk and five strikeouts.
The Diamond Jaxx added their final run in the sixth inning against Asadoorian when Prentice Redman scored on a two-out single from Luis Oliveros for a 5-1 lead. Redman reached in the sixth inning on a one-out hit-by-pitch before moving to second on a groundout.
Brandon Morrow pitched two thirds of an inning before Brodie Downs dealt the final two and one-thirds shutout innings for the save.
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