Mudcats dealt 1-0 loss

Published in Sports on May 1, 2006 2:02 PM

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ZEBULON -- Aaron Herr scampered home on a wild pitch in the second inning as Chattanooga Lookouts defeated the Carolina Mudcats 1-0 at Five County Stadium on Sunday before 5,428 fans.

Herr had doubled to begin the inning against Ben Julianel (0-3), followed by a walk to Ryan Hanigan ahead of a groundout by Jeff Bannon. With the infield back, Julianel broke off a one-strike curveball which was missed by Eric Crozier, however, the pitch escaped catcher Patrick Arlis to allow Herr to bring in the game's only run.

Phil Dumatrait (2-1), who retired the first 11 hitters he faced, came within one strikeout of matching a career best, taking down 10 Carolina batters. Dumatrait struck out 11 in Single-A in 2002.

In the fifth, Carolina (9-16) broke through with its only two hits against Dumatrait. B.J. Garbe doubled to right-center off of a diving attempt by Crozier, then Rex Rundgren followed with a single to left, pushing Garbe to third. On the first pitch to Arlis, manager Luis Dorante called for the safety squeeze, which Arlis bunted right back to Dumatrait, who tossed to Hanigan to begin a rundown to tag out Garbe. The inning ended with pinch-hitter Angel Molina striking out with two runners in scoring position.

In the seventh, Dumatrait walked two hitters, but both Garbe and Rundgren were thrown out stealing.

Julianel suffered the loss despite allowing two hits and a run.

Chattanooga (16-9) maintained its 11/2 game lead over West Tennessee in the Northern Division. The Mudcats, now seven games back, are off today and continue their homestand against the Mobile BayBears on Tuesday night at 7:15 p.m.