Carolina Mudcats Eclipse Jacksonville Suns 5-2

MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - Zebulon, N.C. – Gaby Hernandez pitched his fourth career complete game while his offense scored five third inning runs, leading the Carolina Mudcats (46-62, 18-20) to a 5-2 Monday night victory over the Jacksonville Suns (67-41, 26-12) in front of 4,098 at Five County Stadium.
 
With the win Carolina leads the current series two-games-to-one. The Jacksonville Suns entered the night with a five-game lead in the second half South Division series.
 
The Carolina offense struggled in the first two innings against Suns starter Justin Orenduff, with only two baserunners, both on walks, but broke through in the third inning with five consecutive extra-base hits to open a 5-0 lead. Johnny Raburn started the rally with a one-out double. Rex Rundgren next tripled to right field to score Raburn and open a 1-0 lead. Chase Lambin next hit a two-run homerun over the right-centerfield wall, his eleventh of the season, for a 3-0 advantage. Following Lee Mitchell’s double Frank Moore came through with the fifth-straight extra-base hit in the inning, driving home Mitchell with another double for a 4-0 lead. Moore later moved to third on Orenduff’s second wild pitch of the inning and scored on the third wild pitch for a 5-0 lead.
 
Jacksonville struggled to rebound against Carolina starter Gaby Hernandez, as he scattered three hits in his first six innings of work. The Suns finally got on the board in the seventh inning when Alberto Concepcion scored on an A.J. Ellis single for a 5-1 Carolina lead. Blake DeWitt finished the scoring in the eighth with his third homerun with Jacksonville, a two out blast that made it 5-2 Carolina.
 
Following the big inning the Mudcats struggled against the Jacksonville bullpen as Mark Alexander and Luis Gonzalez each pitched two no-hit innings. The only hit outside of the fifth for Carolina came as a leadoff single from Dante Brinkley in the fourth inning.
 
Gaby Hernandez (7-8) pitched his first complete game of 2007 and fourth of his career for the win, allowing two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts. Justin Orenduff (6-4) fell in the loss after five runs on six hits in four innings, with three walks, three wild pitches and five strikeouts.