Lookouts' Schebler cycles in slugfest

Sunday's Southern League game had so much offense, you almost needed an abacus and a degree in math to appreciate everything the box score had to offer.

It was one of those games where everything that could happen did.

No. 15 Dodgers prospect Scott Schebler hit for the first cycle of his professional career, but he was upstaged by a potent Mobile lineup that flirted with rewriting the team's own record book as the BayBears outslugged the Lookouts, 16-9.

"It's pretty special. They say it's one of the hardest things to do in the game, so that's pretty cool. I'm lost for words," said Schebler, who homered for the third straight game. "But individually, I felt really good. I knew that I had a chance going up for my last at-bat, but [Jimmie Sherfy] was throwing hard, so I just wanted to put it in play.

"We lost, so it doesn't count for a whole lot, I guess."

Schebler is the third Southern League player to hit for the cycle this season. Pensacola's Donald Lutz accomplished the feat against Jacksonville on April 21 and Huntsville's Kentrail Davis wrote his name in the record books against Montgomery on May 22.

The 23-year-old Iowa native singled in the fourth, tripled to lead off the sixth, doubled home a run in the second and slugged a two-run homer in the ninth.

"He was a flamethrower. I think he is their setup man or closer. We were down by a lot so I was thinking fastball," Schebler said of his long ball. "I swung through the 3-1 pitch, so at 3-2, I was sitting dead red. He threw it in the exact spot and this time I was on time.

"It would have been better if the team had won. It takes away from it a little bit. I would have loved to win because it's a team sport. Winning is everything."

The BayBears ensured Schebler's joy was bittersweet.

Mobile backstop Mark Thomas homered twice and plated five runs in his second game of the year and third baseman Jake Lamb went 5-for-6 with three doubles, a triple, three RBIs and three runs scored as he flirted with the cycle himself.

"When you put up 16 runs, it's a good game," said Lamb, whose five hits were a career high. "Everybody was swinging the bat well. It's fun. The dugout was relaxed and that's how you want to feel in the box. It's contagious when everybody is hitting.

"I had a game close to this in Missoula [3-for-4, 7 RBIs in 2012] in Rookie ball, but those games are very rare in a league like this. A day like today is hard to come by."

Arizona's No. 6 prospect is the fourth different BayBears hitter to record a five-hit game this year, joining Garrett Weber (April 17), Justin Greene (April 22) and Griffin (May 21). In total, Mobile owns four of the seven five-hit games on the circuit.

Not to be outdone, first baseman Jon Griffin smacked Mobile's third grand slam of 2014 as part of a five-RBI, three-run performance and shortstop Sean Jamieson reached base four times and scored twice out of the leadoff spot.

Mobile 21's hits fell two shy of the club's all-time mark, while the seven hits collected as the team sent 10 batters to the plate in the seven-run fifth came within one of the franchise high.

"It's awesome," said Thomas, who spent the first two weeks of the season in extended spring training rehabbing a sore right tricep he injured when his bottom hand slipped off the bat during batting practice at the end of Spring Training. "It's good to be back. Everything is good right now.

"These games are fun to watch. You're in the dugout and you're set to bat eighth and you don't know what's going to happen. I haven't batted around in an inning in a while."

Thomas, who went 2-for-4 with a homer in his season debut Friday, cleared the fences with a solo shot on a 3-2 fastball in the fifth and added a two-run dinger on another heater in the ninth.

"I'm the No. 7 hitter and this was my second game back, so I had a feeling I was getting to get fastballs," Thomas said. "I didn't think I was going to see many sliders.

"More importantly, I caught a good game and I got a lot out of our starting pitcher [Bradin Hagens]. I try to do well defensively -- to me, that is more important to the team."