Louisville Bats Hang on for 12-11 Win Over Indianapolis Indians - IL, AAA

MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com – LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Catcher Alvin Colina snapped a tie game by clobbering a three-run homer in the bottom of the seventh and Louisville hung on for a 12-11 win over Indianapolis in front of 11,795 Thursday night at Louisville Slugger Field.
 
The Bats improve to 49-39 overall and 25-20 at home, while the Indians fall to 41-47 on the season and 20-26 on the road.  Louisville has now won eight of the first 14 meetings in this year’s head-to-head series.
 
Colina’s second blast of the night -- and seventh of the campaign -- cleared the left-field wall after 1B Kevin Barker singled to right and RF Rob Mackowiak drew a base on balls.

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Colina (2-for-4, 2 R, 5 RBI), Barker (2-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI) and 2B Michael Griffin (2-for-3, 1 R, 1 RBI) all posted multi-hit performances for Louisville.
 
The Bats scored six times in the fourth. Barker hammered his 11th roundtripper of the year -- a solo shot to center -- and Colina crushed his first roundtripper of the evening -- a two-run blast to left.
 
SS Paul Janish added an RBI double and LF Drew Anderson a two-run single in Louisville’s big inning to make it 8-3.
 
The Indians stormed back with five runs in the seventh -- for a second consecutive night -- to tie the affair.  C Michel Hernandez and 2B Luis Ordaz both scored after opening the frame with back-to-back base knocks.
 
SS Brian Bixler reached on a fielding error and trotted home on a bases-loaded walk.  LF Nyjer Morgan roped a single and came plateward on a sacrifice fly.  CF Andrew McCutchen then knotted the contest by scoring on a groundout after drawing a base on balls.
 
The Tribe managed three scores in the ninth -- two on RF Adam Boeve’s 10th homer of 2008 -- and put the tying run at first, but Louisville RHP Ramon Ramirez (0.2 IP) induced a double play on his third pitch for the save.
 
Bats RHP Todd Coffey (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 SO) won his third game in five decisions this year, while Indians RHP Marino Salas (0.1 IP, 1 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB) fell to 2-2 with the loss.
 
Neither starter -- Indianapolis RHP Ty Taubenheim (3.2 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 3 BB, 4 SO) or Louisville RHP Justin Mallett (6.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO) -- figured in the decision.
 
Hernandez (3-for-5, 2 R, 1 RBI), Morgan (2-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI) and Boeve (2-for-5, 1 R, 3 RBI) collected more than one base knock for the Indians.
 
The International League West Division rivals combined for 23 runs and 23 hits in the wild affair, which took three hours and 26 minutes to play.  The two managers used a combine 20 position players and 10 pitchers.  The tilt also included four lead changes and three ties.
 
The teams head north on I-65 for Friday’s Independence Day special at 6 p.m.  LHP Matt Maloney is scheduled to start for Louisville, while LHP Corey Hamman is expected to get the nod for Indianapolis.
 
Friday evening’s contest is sold out. A limited number of standing-room-only tickets will be made available at game time.  Two fireworks spectaculars will follow the nine-inning affair.
 
Fans without tickets can watch the game live on WHMB-TV 40 with "Voice of the Tribe" Howard Kellman and former Major League pitcher Dyar Miller.  The contest will also be broadcast on WXLW-950 AM with Scott McCauley and Brian Giffin.
 
Indianapolis continues its stretch of nine home games in 10 days when Columbus comes to Victory Field on Sunday at 5 p.m.  The homestand includes four games against the Clippers (July 6-9) and four contests vs. the Toledo Mud Hens (July 10-13).

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