In the finale of a four-game series against Norfolk, a foursome of Tides' pitchers combined to clamp down on the Louisville offense and Xavier Avery cranked a two-run home run in a 4-1 victory Thursday night at Louisville Slugger Field.

The Bats (11-24) couldn't put a string of hits together on Norfolk starter Brad Bergesen, who went five innings while giving up four hits in four separate innings. The Bats didn't get a runner to second base while Bergesen was in the game.

Louisville was able to plate its only run against Norfolk (15-18) in the bottom of the seventh inning. Miguel Gonzalez was on in relief for the Tides. Prior to the game, Gonzalez allowed just two hits and one earned run in 17.2 innings, but the Bats managed five hits against him.

Neftali Soto led off the bottom of the frame with a single up the middle. Gonzalez retired two Bats hitters before Felix Perez hit a single to left field. Dioner Navarro followed with his third hit of the night, an RBI single to center field. The Bats weren't able to do any further damage, and they had missed an opportunity the previous inning against Gonzalez when they had runners on second and third with no outs but failed to get a run across.

Pat Neshek, the Tides' sidearm closer, was able to close out the bottom of the ninth in 1-2-3 fashion, earning his second save of the season. Bergesen improved to 1-2 on the season.

The Tides had leadoff hits in each of the first three innings, and capitalized in the third off Louisville starter Chad Reineke, who fell to 1-2. Blake Davis led off with his first triple of the season, and Avery followed with a home run over the right field wall. Consecutive singles by Ryan Adams and Jamie Hoffmann put two runners on base with no outs. Reineke got a visit from Louisville pitching coach Ted Power, and must have heard something he liked. He struck out Bill Hall, and got Joe Mahoney to ground into a double play to end the inning.

Reineke settled in after the third, retiring 11 of the next 14 batters. He finished with six innings pitched, giving up six hits and two earned runs while striking out two.

Avery continued to be the spark for the Tides offensively, going 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored. He began his night with a double in the first. In the seventh, he hit a single to center field that nearly got past a diving Denis Phipps. He would end up giving Norfolk a 3-0 lead two at-bats later on a Hoffmann single.

The Bats continue their home stand against the Lehigh Valley IronPigs at 6:35 p.m. on Friday. Louisville's Brett Tomko (0-3, 3.41 ERA) is set to oppose Lehigh's Scott Elarton (3-1, 2.84) on the mound.