Jacksonville Suns Do the Damage Early Against Chattanooga Lookouts, Hang on for 11-9 Win
Sunday, June 29, 2008 at 12:17PM MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com – JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Suns (39-42, 6-5) used a three-run first inning and five-run third while taking advantage of a season-high six errors from the Chattanooga Lookouts (41-40, 4-7) during an 11-9 Saturday night victory in front of 4,194 at the Baseball Grounds.
With the win Jacksonville clinched a series win against Chattanooga, winning four of the first five games in the series of six.
Both teams scored in each of the first three innings. Chattanooga scored single runs in each frame against Suns starter Cody White, while the Suns took advantage of five Lookouts errors in the first three frames. Jacksonville scored three runs against Chattanooga starter Jordan Smith in the first inning as the Lookouts committed three errors. A Jamie Hoffmann single, throwing error and double play ground ball each scored a run for a 3-1 Suns lead. An Adam Godwin single combined with an error by Lookouts centerfielder Cody Strait scored Gabriel Gutierrez in the second inning for a 4-2 Jacksonville lead.
ADVERTISEMENT The Suns scored five runs in the third inning against Smith, with a Shane Justis RBI single and an Adam Godwin two-run double opening a 7-3 lead. Shortstop Chris Valaika then misplayed a Cody White bouncing grounder to allow Gutierrez to score for an 8-3 lead. Ivan DeJesus, Jr. later singled home Godwin to open a 9-3 advantage.
Chattanooga added three runs against White in the fifth inning with a Thomas Collaro sacrifice fly, Tonys Gutierrez double and White wild pitch getting the runs in for a 9-6 score. White finished with six earned runs on nine hits with one walk and three strikeouts over five innings.
Suns reliever Scott Elbert entered for the sixth inning, shutting down the Chattanooga attack by striking out seven over three innings with only one walk.
Jacksonville padded the lead with a sixth inning RBI single from Shane Justis and an eighth inning solo homerun from Mark Bellhorn, his sixth of the year, to open and 11-6 lead.
The Lookouts rallied against Suns reliever Jacobo Meque in the ninth inning, scoring three runs to cut the Suns lead to 11-9. Zach Hammes entered, inducing a groundball that scored the third run of the inning before a strikeout ended the game.
Cody White (3-1) picked up the win for the Suns while Jordan Smith (1-4) fell in the loss for the Lookouts. Zach Hammes (4) saved the game for the Suns.
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