Jacksonville Suns Defeat Carolina Mudcats 6-0

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com -ZEBULON, N.C. – After a one inning start from Clayton Kershaw, Rick Asadoorian pitched five scoreless innings while going two-for-three with a homerun and two RBI in leading the Jacksonville Suns (22-25) to a 6-0 victory over the Carolina Mudcats (27-20) Thursday night in front of 3,292 at Five County Stadium.
 
 Carolina now leads the 29-game season series 8-4. The current series is tied one game a piece.
 
 Rick Asadoorian (4-2) picked up the win for the Suns after five scoreless innings with one hit, one walk and four strikeouts. Carolina starter Chris Volstad (3-2) fell in the loss after allowing four runs on nine hits over five innings.
 
 Twenty-year-old left-hander Clayton Kershaw started Thursday’s game for Jacksonville, pitching one perfect inning with two strikeouts in his tenth outing and ninth start of the year. The Dallas, Texas native did not leave because of injury. The Dodgers have tried to limit the amount of pitches and innings pitched Kershaw has used early in 2008.
 
 After Kershaw departed Rick Asadoorian entered from the bullpen and picked up where Kershaw left off, shutting down the Carolina offense over the next five innings. The converted outfielder in only his second year as a regular pitcher held the Mudcats to only a walk and a double.
 
 The Jacksonville offense contributed in starting in the third inning off of Carolina starter Chris Volstad. Russell Mitchell singled home Ivan DeJesus, Jr. with two out for a 1-0 lead. The Suns continued the attack in the fourth inning as Asadoorian singled home Jamie Hoffmann for a 2-0 Jacksonville lead.
 
 The Suns added two more runs in the fifth inning off of Volstad, one on a Mitchell sacrifice fly and a second on a Hoffmann single for a 4-0 advantage. Hoffmann finished the night 2-4, extending his hitting streak to 13 consecutive games, the third-longest streak in the Southern League during 2008.
 
 Jacksonville ended the scoring in the sixth inning with two runs against Carolina reliever Marc Lamacchia. Rick Asadoorian belted an opposite field, leadoff homerun for a 5-0 lead. Ivan DeJesus, Jr. later was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error for a 6-0 Suns lead.
 

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