A Friday night crowd of 3,316 gathered at BellSouth Park for baseball and fireworks. The visitors’ bats provided plenty of offensive fireworks, mainly coming in two three-run innings. Tennessee stopped the Lookouts streak at five by winning, 7-5.

Lefty Phil Dumatrait (2-2) took the loss for Chattanooga. He gave up five earned runs on six hits. His control was not as sharp as his last outing; Dumatrait walked three batters and struck out three.

The Lookouts had problems with their defense for the second straight game commiting three errors. Of the seven Tennessee runs, only three were earned.

Chattanooga out hit the Smokies with another double digit game (12); Tennessee had nine hits.

Chattanooga took the lead in the first inning, 1-0. Leadoff hitter Rick Asadoorian singled to right and took second when the pitcher, Clint Goocher, threw a wild pitch. With one away, Joey Votto flew out to right enabling Asadoorian to take up and move to third. Aaron Herr singled sharply to left as Asadoorian scored the first run. Lookouts 1 Smokies 0

Tennessee wasted little time getting to pitcher Dumatrait in the second inning. James D'Antona tied the game with a solo home run to center field (his sixth of the year). Jesus Cota followed with a double to the base of the center field wall. Dumatrait set down the next two batters but a passed ball moved Cota to third. Alberto Gonzalez’s double down the left field line plated Cota. Javier Colina’s error at second allowed Gonzalez to score the third run. Smokies 3 Lookouts 1

In the fourth, the Smokies added another three runs in an inning that saw manager Jayhawk Owens ejected from the game by the home plate umpire (substitute umpires names are not released). After two close plays at home in which the runner was called safe, an animated Owens let the umpire know that "he missed the call." Tennessee’s runs were scored on two hits, a walk, and a wild pitch. Smokies 6 Lookouts 1

Chattanooga picked up a run in the fourth but missed an opportunity to score even more. Herr led off with a single and scored from first base on a double by Miguel Perez. A single by Chris Dickerson put men at the corners with no men out. The next hitter, Noochie Varner, popped out to second and Anderson Machado grounded into an inning-ending double play. Smokies 6 Lookouts 2

In the seventh inning the Lookouts again missed another chance to cut the lead but came away with only one run. - Chris Kinsey, who came on in relief, was greeted by Varner’s double to right.
- Kinsey proceeded to walk Machado and pinch hitter Eric Crozier.
- Asadoorian hit a sacrifice fly to right scoring Varner and moving Machado to third.
- With men at the corners, Colina fanned and Votto popped out to shortstop to end the rally. Smokies 6 Lookouts 3

Tennessee added an unearned run in the ninth inning. Smokies 7 Lookouts 3

In the bottom of the ninth, the Lookouts mounted a mini-rally.
- Varner and pinch hitter Luis Bolivar both singled.
- A base hit up the middle by Asadoorian scored Varner.
- Smokies’ manager Bill Plummer went to his bullpen bringing in right hander Tony Pena.
- After striking out Colina, Pena gave up an RBI single to Votto scoring Bolivar and sending Asadoorian to third.

What more could the Lookouts want?

With runners at first and third, the league’s leading RBI man came to the plate – Aaron Herr. In this case, there were no last minute heroics as Herr flew out to right field to end the game. Final score: Smokies 7 Lookouts 5

Asadoorian, Herr, and Perez finished with two hits each, while Varner collected three hits in the contest.

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In the final game of their current series, Travis Chick takes the mound for Chattanooga Saturday night. Game time is 7:15 p.m. Another fireworks show follows the game.

Chattanooga turned a double play in the seventh inning. Second baseman Javier Colina relays the ball to first to complete the play. Click to enlarge photo.
- Photo2 by Tim Evearitt