Olague Steals the Show; Fires CG Against Tourists

ROME- The Asheville Tourists were held at bay on Friday night by the Rome Braves' starting pitcher, Jose Olague. The right-hander started and finished the game with nine innings of pretty much flawless execution. Asheville scraped across an unearned run in the top of the ninth to avoid a shutout; however, the Braves still won comfortably 5-1.
Olague entered the ninth inning just three outs away from being the second pitcher in Rome Braves history to throw a nine-inning complete game shutout. His defense let him down in the form of a throwing error on what was a routine groundball to lead off the inning. The Tourists then hit back-to-back groundouts with the infield playing back to score their lone run.

Rome plated three of their five runs in the bottom of the first inning. The Braves added one more in the second and an additional run in the sixth. The Tourists had a total of four base-runners in the game. Grant Lavigne singled, LeeMarcus Boyd singled, Danny Edgeworth was grazed by a pitch, and Javier Guevara reached on the ninth inning error.
The pitching for Asheville wasn't bad. Shelby Lackey struggled early but he regained his form to finish his outing with three shutout innings. Lackey struck out seven Braves hitters. Jake Bird was strong over two frames and Boby Johnson struck out the side in his one inning in relief.
Offensively the Tourists have managed just five hits over the last two games. Their two hits tonight matched a season-low for a nine-inning game. Asheville will attempt to bounce back on Saturday with the current series knotted up at one game apiece.