D-Jaxx Win Back-and-Forth Game

The Braves and Diamond Jaxx traded the lead back and forth until West Tenn finally went ahead for good in the fifth. Eric Patterson doubled and later scored on Luis Montanez' sacrifice fly, which proved to be the winning run. West Tenn took game one of the series 5-3 in front of 2,697 at Trustmark Park.

Eric Patterson aslo launched his third homer of the year in the top of the first into the Cellular South Cafe giving West Tenn a 1-0 lead.

Gregor Blanco, Martin Prado, singled to start off the bottom of the first, and then Jarrod Saltalamacchia drove in Blanco with an RBI single making the score 1-1 after one.

The Braves took the lead in the second when Josh Burrus, Matt Esquivel, and Luis Hernandez each hit singles to lead off the inning. With the bases loaded, pitcher Daniel Curtis bounced into a double play that brought Burrus to the plate with the go-ahead run.

West Tenn went back on top 3-2 in the third when Scott Moore hit a two-out, two-RBI double that brought Nic Jackson and Micah Hoffpauir to the plate.

The Braves tied the score in the bottom of the fourth when Josh Burrus reached and moved to second on a throwing error by third baseman Scott Moore. Matt Esquivel then hit a single back up the middle that brought Burrus to the plate with the game-tying run.

West Tenn added another run on a sacrifice fly in the ninth.

Daniel Curtis (6.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 HR, 1 WP) left the game trailing 4-3 and fell to 1-3 this year. Zach Schreiber (2.1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 4 BB, 1 K) loaded the bases in his first inning, but worked out of trouble in his first appearance in Mississippi. He did allow one run to score. Paul Bush (0.2 IP, 1 H, 1 BB) came on to finish out the game for the Braves.

West Tenn's JR Mathes (6.0 IP, 8 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 K) left the game with a 4-3 lead. The D-Jaxx bullpen held the lead and Mathes improved to 3-2 on the year. Thomas Atlee (2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 K) held Mississippi off the board for two solid innings. Clay Rapada (1.0 IP, 1 K) came on in the ninth to earn his eighth save of the season.

Mississippi and West Tenn face off again tomorrow night in game two of this five-game series at 7:05 pm at Trustmark Park. Taking the hill for Mississippi will be right-hander Sean White (1-2, 4.20 ERA) in search of his second win of the year. West Tenn counters with RHP Carlos Marmol (2-1, 2.59 ERA) who's looking for win #3 on the year. The Braves On Deck Circle powered by Nextel starts off the broadcast at 6:05pm on SuperSport 930.

Check out the Braves Minute here. Don't forget if you're headed to Riverwalk Stadium bring your radio and tune into 103.9 FM to listen to the broadcast

BRAVES BITES:

* Gregor Blanco extended his current hitting streak to seven games tying the '06 season high set by Josh Arteaga ... Blanco is hitting (12-32, .375).
* Martin Prado extended his current hitting streak to seven games tying the '06 season high set by Josh Arteaga ... Prado is hitting (11-32, .344).
* Yunel Escobar extended his current hitting streak to seven games tying the '06 season high set by Josh Arteaga ... Escobar is hitting (11-30, 367).
* Josh Burrus has a hit in each of his first six games in Mississippi
* The Braves have now fallen to 1-6 in the first game of each series.
* The Braves also fell to 3-9 in two-run games.

by
Bryan Eubank