Scott Schlebner
photo by Tim Evearitt
The Chattanooga Lookouts (22-35) scored nine runs in the game powered mainly by
Scott Schebler, who thumped a home run to dead center to complete the cycle in the ninth inning. Schebler's historic achievement wasn't enough however, as the Mobile Baybears (34-22) managed 16 runs of their own to win the high-scoring affair.
The first six hitters for the Lookouts went down in order, but they got their first baserunner when Alberto Rosario walked to begin the bottom of the third.
Rosario was thrown out at second on a fielder's choice, but Noel Cuevas reached first without a throw. Tyson Brummett did his part by bunting him over to second so that Darnell Sweeney could take the goose egg off the Lookouts' half of the board.
The fourth inning was a big one for both teams. Brummett had done a good job at limiting the damage when the BayBears had gotten on base up to that point, but in the fourth, they were able to load the bases and bring them all around to score and then some, getting four runs to lengthen their lead to 6-1.
The Lookouts battled back in the bottom of the fourth inning. Daniel Mayora and Scott Schebler were on the base paths when Alberto Rosario started a string of three straight two-out singles, followed by Noel Cuevas and Chris O'Brien, who pinch-hit in the pitcher's spot. That brought three Lookouts around to score and put the game within two runs.
The game was all but salted away when the BayBears launched two home runs in the fifth, including a Jon Griffin grand slam which extended the lead to 12-4 at the time. Mark Thomas of the BayBears added his second consecutive home run in the seventh. The Lookouts scraped together five more runs, but ultimately lost the game 16-9.
There were plenty of good moments in the game, but the brightest moment came at the end of the game, when Schebler destroyed a 96 MPH fastball by sending a towering home run out to dead center field during the ninth inning, his second in as many games. The blast completed the cycle in four consecutive at-bats, garnering a single in the fourth, triple in the sixth, and double in the seventh.
The Lookouts will try and take the series lead back with Chris Reed (3-3, 2.88) starting Monday's game. He has been fighting back and forth with Robert Stephenson from the Blue Wahoos for the league lead in strikeouts. Coming into Sunday's games, both were tied at the top with 66 on the year. Mobile will counter with RHP A.J. Schugel (2-1, 3.62), who pitched 6.1 scoreless innings against the Lookouts just a couple weeks ago.