Braves Drop Series Finale

When Mississippi and West Tenn took the field Wednesday night, it wasanything but a pitcher's duel. The worst hitting team in the leaguebattered the best pitching team in the league 12-6 in front of 3,194 fans at Trustmark Park. With the loss the Braves (38-22) still maintained their lead in the South Division at 5 games over the Jacksonville Suns. The Braves magic number to clinch the first half is at 6 with 10 games remaining. The Diamond-Jaxx (26-34) remain 7.0 games back in the North Division race as they halted a six-game losing streak.

Kelvin Villa (3-4, 5.71 ERA) had his worst and shortest outing of the year as he gave up eight runs on seven hits through 3.1 innings pitched. Villa struggled with control as he issued five walks and hit a batter. Tyler Bullock gave up two runs on six hits through 3.2 innings. Brad Nelson gave up two runs on three hits through two innings.

The Braves offense had no problem getting on the board as they scored 4 in the first inning while seven of the Braves batters had at least two hits. The Braves raised their team batting three more points average to .271 on the season. The D-Jaxx also pounded the baseball picking up 9 unanswered runs after falling behind 4-1 in the first inning. Both teams finished with 16 hits.

J.C. Holt was the Braves Players of the Game as finished 3-for-5 at the plate with an RBI. He raised his batting average to .402 on the season and picked up his 8th stolen base.

The Braves will start up a 5-game series in Hoover, Alabama at Regions Park as they take on the Birmingham Barons, the AA Affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, in the first game of their Southern League Series. The Braves On Deck Circle presented by Wendy's will air starting at 6:05pm (CT). The First Pitch will follow at 7:05pm (CT). The Braves are scheduled to send LHP Francisely Bueno (2-2, 2.85 ERA) to the hill in search of his 3rd win, while the Barons will counter with LHP Ryan Wing (2-1, 1.59 ERA) who is looking for his third victory. Make sure you take your radio to the game and tune to the exclusive Trustmark Park frequency - 93.1-FM.

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 To catch an archived version of tonight's game or any previous MS Braves game head to Minor League Baseball.com and select the day you want to hear.

GAME TIME: 3:12 --- ATTENDANCE: 3,192 (104,687-Total --- 3,490-Avg)

BRAVES BITES:
* The Braves fall to 21-9 at home.
* The Braves fall to 8-10 when their opponent scores first.
* The Braves improve to 27-10 when scoring 4 or more runs.
* The Braves are outscoring their opponents 49-17 in the first inning.
* The Braves registered 3 more strikeouts on the mound.(Performance Sports Academy K's for Kids Total: $452 to the Blair E. Batson Children's Hospital)

ACTIVE HIT STREAKS (2 games or more):
* JC Holt - 3 games (8-13, .615)
* Mark Jurich - 9 games (15-36, .417)
* Ray Serrano - 8 games (10-24, .417)
* Clint Sammons - 7 games (9-29, .310)
* Brandon Jones -4 games (10-20, .500)
* Diory Hernandez - 4 games (8-17, .471)
* Carl Loadenthal - 12 games (22-47, .468)

HIT STREAKS ENDED:
* NONE

HITLESS STREAKS ENDED:
*Matt Esquivel (0-5) - 1st Inning 2-run double

ACTIVE HITLESS STREAKS:
* Greg Creek (0-6)
* Mike Rozema (0-7)

TRANSACTIONS:
* NONE

(Players listed in Italics did not play in this game)

by
Bryan Eubank