Generals take two from Barons on Wednesday night, 2-1 & 8-1
JACKSON, TENN. (AUGUST 13, 2014) - The Generals (25-27, 56-65) picked up their second double header sweep of the season Wednesday with a walk-off 2-1 victory in game one and an 8-1 in the nightcap over the Birmingham Barons (23-29, 52-70) in Jackson. With the wins, Jackson pulled within a game of the North Division leaders Tennessee and Chattanooga (who have won 11 straight) and in the process handed the Barons a third straight loss in the series. The Barons have been outscored 27-2 in their last four games. Jackson also improved to 6-2 in seven-inning contests in 2014.
In game one, Birmingham's Rangel Ravelo continued his hot hitting ways with a triple to lead off the top of the second for the Barons and scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly from Jason Coats. That gave Birmingham their first run in two games and the lead, but it was short lived.
In the bottom of the inning Dan Paolini (1x5, 2 R, HR, RBI, BB) hit his club-leading 12th home run of the year to tie the game 1-1 after two innings.
Both starters pitched well as no one scored again until the seventh. Steve Baron (2x2, R, BB) led off the bottom of the final inning with a base hit, moved to second on a Leon Landry (1x4) single, and Tyler Smith (1x5, R, RBI, 2 BB) followed with a walk to load the bases. D.J. Peterson (2x7, R, HR, 4 RBI) followed with a base hit that scored Baron with game's winning run and Jackson escaped with a game one walk-off victory, 2-1. It was just Jackson's second walk-off of the season and first of the second half.
Tyler Olson (7-7, 3.80) tossed a complete game and earned his seventh win of the season, allowing just one run on six hits in 7.0 innings. Mike Recchia (5-4, 3.32) also went the distance for the Barons, but took the loss, giving up two runs on eight hits and walking three.
It took Jackson a little longer to score in game two as there was no score until D.J. Peterson launched his eighth Jackson home run of the season, 26th overall this year, and the two-run shot gave his team the 2-0 lead. Pat Kivlehan (1x4, R, 3B) followed with his team-leading seventh triple and scored when Jordy Lara (0x5, RBI, BB) hit a sacrifice fly and the lead was 3-0 after four innings.
In the fifth Peterson once again came to the plate with the bases loaded and hit a ground ball to the short stop that ended up in left field and Brock Hebert (0x2, R, RBI, BB) and Smith both scored to increase the lead to 5-0.
Jackson increased their lead in the sixth without logging a base hit. Braulio Ortiz came out of the bullpen and walked the first two batters in the Generals order. Carlton Tanabe (0x3, R) followed by reaching on an error to load the bases, then Ortiz walked the next three batters in a row to bring in three more Jackson runs for an 8-0 lead.
In the seventh the Barons finally dented the scoreboard with a base hit from Trayce Thompson that scored Jeremy Farrell to cut the lead to 8-1.
Stephen Shackleford (6-2, 3.19) earned the win in game two with 1.2 scoreless innings of relief where he allowed just one hit and struck out three. He took over in the fourth for Kyle Hunter (3-3, 3.97) who made the spot start in game two of the double header and went 3.1 scoreless allowing only two hits. David Cales (2-1, 4.53) suffered the loos for Birmingham as he allowed three runs on two hits in 4.0 innings of work.
The Generals won game two despite just posting three hits and going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position. They took advantage of nine walks issued by the Barons and three errors.
The Generals look to win another series victory on Dollar Thursday at The Ballpark in Jackson against the Barons. Stephen Landazuri (6-4, 3.45) will make the start for Jackson as Birmingham will have Bryan Blough (2-4, 3.83) on the bump. The game will begin at 7:05 p.m. and can be heard on 96.5 ESPN, TuneIn Radio and jacksongeneralsbaseball.com.