Bogusevic's Walk-Off Double Lifts Pigs, 4-3

With runners at the corners and one out in the bottom of the ninth, Brian Bogusevic played the role of hero for the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Friday night as he delivered a two-run walk-off double off the wall in right to give the Pigs a 4-3 victory over the Gwinnett Braves. It was the third straight win for the IronPigs. Lehigh Valley improves to 9-20 with the win, while Gwinnett falls to 13-15.

RHP Aaron Kurcz (0-2) was dealt the loss for the Braves after giving up two runs (one earned) on two hits in 0.1 innings pitched.

The first run of the night came courtesy of a solo shot off the bat of Maikel Franco to give Lehigh Valley a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the sixth. It was the third home run of the season for Franco, which is tops on the team.

Pigs RHP Phillippe Aumont and Braves LHP Manny Banuelos were locked in a scoreless pitcher's duel through the first five and a half innings before the IronPigs broke through in the afore-mentioned home half of the sixth.

Aumont tossed the six shutout innings and allowed just two hits to go along with three walks and two strikeouts. The right-hander received a no-decision for his outing.

Banuelos also pitched six innings and gave up one run on seven hits to along with a walk and six strikeouts. Just like his counterpart, the southpaw also got a no-decision.

Bogusevic (2-4, 2B, 2 RBI, R), Franco (3-4, 2B, HR, RBI, R), Russ Canzler (2-3, 2B, RBI) and Cord Phelps (2-4, 2B) all notched multi-hit games for Lehigh Valley. Bogusevic extended his hitting streak to 11 games with the two-hit performance.

The Pigs were able to add a run in the home half of the eighth as Bogusevic walked with one out, Franco singled later in the inning and Canzler plated Bogusevic with an RBI double to extend the lead to 2-0.

The Braves plated three runs in the top of the ninth as Daniel Castro's sac fly with a runner at third and one out drove home the go-ahead run for the time being. Gwinnett's other runs in the inning came via Cedric Hunter's RBI single and a wild pitch charged to RHP Colton Murray (0.2 IP) that came with runners at second and third and one away in the inning. All three runs were charged to RHP Hector Neris (0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 ER). Murray earned the win to even his record at 1-1 on the season.

RHP Tyler Knigge (1.0 IP) and LHP Cesar Jimenez (1.0 IP, K) each tossed a scoreless inning out of the bullpen for the IronPigs.

Lehigh Valley and Gwinnett will be back at it on Saturday at 6:35 p.m. in the second game of this three-game set as LHP Adam Morgan (0-3, 3.90) gets the ball for the IronPigs while former IronPig LHP Greg Smith (1-1, 3.00) takes the mound for Gwinnett.