Braves Lose Series Finale & Third Straight

Micah Hoffpauir belted a three-run homerun in the bottom of third inning to give the Diamond Jaxx a three-run lead that would not relinquish but would add to as they beat the Braves 7-1 in front of 3,192 at Trustmark Park on Thursday night.

Matt Wright (1-2, 3.93 ERA) took the loss which was his first as a starter. He allowed five runs over five innings. Paul Bush threw 3.1 of relief giving up the other two runs to the D-Jaxx.

The story of the series was Luis Montanez as he finished (13-21, .619) with four doubles, one homerun and 8 RBIs. West Tenn also again proved why they were the number one team in hitting and pitching tonight, in front of 2,749 at Trustmark Park, as they lowered their team ERA to 2.79 and raised their team batting average 2 more points to .271.

The Braves start a five game set Friday night against the Birmingham Barons in the series opener at 7:05 pm at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium. RHP Daniel Curtis (1-3, 2.70 ERA) takes the hill for the Braves while Birmingham counters with LHP Ray Liotta (1-3, 4.04 ERA) The Braves On Deck Circle powered by Nextel starts off the broadcast at 6:05pm on SuperSport 930 (WSFZ-AM-930).

Check out the Braves Minute here. To catch an archived version of tonight's game or any previous MS Braves game head to Minor League Baseball.com and select the day you want to hear.

BRAVES BITES:
* Gregor Blanco extended his current hitting streak to a team-high eleven games ... (16-44, .364)
* Barbaro Canizares extended his streak to seven games ... (10-28, .357)
* The Braves fall to 7-16 when their opponent scores first, 4-16 when allowing a homerun, 4-16 when committing an error.

by
Bryan Eubank