Barons Opening Night Hosts Sellout Crowd

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - A sellout crowd of 8,500 filled Regions Field Thursday as the Barons welcomed America's Pastime back to Downtown Birmingham on Opening Night. The sellout was the 17th in the short history of Regions Field, and marks the second time the Opening Night game has been played in front of a capacity crowd.

Despite the tremendous fan support, the Barons were outscored 11-3 to open up the 2015 season. The BayBears totaled 17 hits while the Mobile pitching staff held Birmingham to just five hits on the evening. BayBears starting pitcher Aaron Blair picked up the win, going six innings, giving up three hits, three runs and striking out four. Barons starter Myles Jaye was handed the loss after four innings of work, giving up eight hits and five earned runs.

The Barons' five hits came courtesy of Joey DeMichele, Tim Anderson, Jacob May and Jason Coats. Coats doubled to left-center in the second, and Anderson put Birmingham on the board in the third with a triple. Scoring DeMichele from third, Anderson would also score on a May groundout.

Trailing just 2-3 at the end of three innings, Mobile would go on to score two runs in the fourth and five runs in the fifth to push its lead to 10-2. BayBears leftfielder Alex Glenn was unstoppable with a four-for-five showing, picking up a double, two triples, five RBI and two runs scored.

The Barons were able to get one run back in the fifth courtesy of an Anderson sacrifice fly to plate DeMichele, pulling within seven runs of Mobile, but the BayBears bullpen would only allow two hits in three innings of relief to stifle the Birmingham lineup. Mobile picked up one final run in the ninth on a Glenn single to cement its lead and final score.

Birmingham is back in action Friday night as they host Mobile for the second game of a five game series. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m. as Friday Night Fireworks headline the evening matchup. Fans will also receive a magnetic schedule as they exit Regions Field. Right-hander Mike Recchia is set to deal for the Barons and Brandon Shipley is scheduled to take the mound for Mobile.  

To order tickets, visit Barons.com or call (205) 988-3200. For more information, visit us at www.barons.com, www.facebook.com/birminghambarons or on Twitter: @bhambarons.