Mudcats fall; Bulls take twinbill

Published in Sports on June 5, 2006 2:19 PM

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ZEBULON -- The Mississippi Braves scored four times in the ninth to erase a two-run deficit in dropping the Carolina Mudcats to their sixth-straight loss 7-5 at Five County Stadium on Sunday afternoon.

Matt Esquivel singled home the tie-breaking runs to cap the big inning as Mississippi (26-31) matched a franchise record with its seventh straight win, all on the road.

Kevin Cave (0-1) suffered the loss for the Mudcats (26-32), allowing four runs in 2/3 of an inning.

The Mudcats rallied from 2-0 down to tie in the fourth on a two-run shot by Kevin Randel, then went ahead 3-2 on a Lee Mitchell homer in the fifth against Braves starter Chris Waters.

Mississippi had assumed the lead in the second on the first of two homers by Mike Rosamond. Rosamond also homered in the seventh against starter Paul Mildren, who worked 61/3 innings, but did not factor in the decision.

A Frank Moore sacrifice fly pushed Carolina's lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the eighth before the Braves rally.

Manu Olivera starts today at 7:15 p.m. against Paul Bush in the series fourth game.

INTERNATIONAL LEAGUE

Durham 7-3, Buffalo 5-2

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Fernando Cortez's single in the top of the 16th inning scored Rocco Baldelli and lifted Durham to a 3-2 win over Buffalo in the second game to sweep an International League doubleheader Sunday.

Durham won the opener 7-5.

After the teams played 11 scoreless innings in the nightcap, Baldelli reached base with two out on a single to center, and moved to second after a walk. Cortez then hit a line drive past second baseman Joe Inglett off Buffalo backup catcher Einar Diaz, who had entered to pitch after the Bisons had exhausted their bullpen.

Tim Corcoran (5-1) pitched three scoreless innings for Durham to earn the win. Backup catcher Josh Johnson came on to pitch the 16th inning and shut out Buffalo to earn the save, his first. Diaz (0-1) took the loss allowing one run in one inning of work.

In the opener, B.J. Upton's sacrifice fly to the warning track in right center field off Buffalo reliever Andrew Brown allowed Ryan Knox to score the go-ahead run from third base, breaking a 5-5 tie in the top of the sixth inning.

Kevin Witt hit a grand slam for Durham and Elijah Dukes also homered.

Durham's J.B. Miadich struck out Buffalo's Franklin Gutierrez with two on and two out in the sixth, then set down the Bisons in order in the seventh to earn his 10th save. Jose Rodriguez (2-1) notched the win for the Bulls.

Brown (2-2) took the loss for Buffalo, allowing two earned runs in 11/3 innings.