Thursday, June 19, 2008
For Immediate
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Contact: Jim Tocco
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Hughes powers Biscuits to victory, 6-3
Houser wins third straight
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MONTGOMERY- Rhyne Hughes put on quite a performance in his first game back from the disabled list on Thursday night at Riverwalk Stadium in a 6-3 win over the Mississippi Braves.
The Biscuits first baseman took the first pitch he saw from Braves starter Deunte Heath and launched it over the left-centerfield fence, to give Montgomery the early 2-0 lead after two innings. Hughes also struck again later in the night, giving the Biscuits some much needed insurance in the seventh inning.
Starter James Houser led the Montgomery Biscuits (1-2) to their first victory of the second half over the Mississippi Braves (2-1). Houser, who had been winless through his first 11 starts, collected his third straight victory to move to 3-1 in 2008. The lanky southpaw tossed four brilliant frames to start the game, striking out a season high tying seven batters. Houser ran into some trouble in the fifth, when he issued back to back walks, his third and fourth of the game, to start the inning. With one out and the bases loaded, JC Holt knocked in Quentin Davis with an RBI single. The second run scored on a Matt Young double play ground out.
Houser left the game after five and relied on the Montgomery bullpen to hang on to the two run lead. Eddie Morlan looked a bit shaky in the sixth. Van Pope doubled off Morlan to start the inning and was eventually driven in by a Javier Guzman base hit, making the score 4-3. Despite a continuing problem finding the strike zone, the Biscuits relief corps did not allow the Braves to score again. Brian Henderson, Colter Bean and Ryan Reid pitched around four more walks and held the Braves scoreless in the final three innings. Reid picked up the save, his third, striking out two in the ninth.
Recent call up Deunte Heath made his Southern League debut starting for the Braves. Heath lasted five innings and matched Houser's walk total of four. He gave up four runs, two earned on three hits. After Hughes' two run bomb in the second, two more Biscuits scored against Heath, two innings later. Hughes reached on one of two Javier Guzman errors to start the inning. One out later, Ronnie Merrill whacked an RBI triple, making the score 3-0. Johnny Raburn added one more to the tally, grounding out and scoring Merrill from third.
Merrill was supposed to have the night off, nursing a sore ankle and back, but entered in the third inning for an injured Pat Cottrell. Cottrell took a Heath fastball off his hand in the bottom of the second and did not return for the third.
The Braves would hear from Hughes one more time, this time in the seventh. With two on and two out, Hughes crushed a two run double off of reliever Sung Ki Jung to lock up the first win of the second half for the Biscuits, 6-3.
The Biscuits once again will try to even the series, this time at 2-2, Friday night in Alabama's capital. With the six game set half in the books, Montgomery looks to starter Mike Prochaska to carry tonight's momentum to the mound against the Braves' Carlos Sencion. The battle of lefthanders gets underway at 7:05, followed by Max fireworks and a Charles Billingsly concert, presented by Faith Radio.
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