After holding a commanding lead in the batting race, Max Kepler slumped and finished in second place.
photo by Tim Evearitt
The Chattanooga Lookouts (76-61) drop their final regular season game to the Jackson Generals (53-84) by a score of 6-4. The team finishes the year with a 76-61 record and will begin round one of the playoffs on Thursday against the Montgomery Biscuits at AT&T Field.
Chattanooga jumped out a an early one run lead on Adam Brett Walker's league leading 31st home run. That dinger gave Walker the most home runs in Lookouts franchise history, surpassing Larry Drake who hit 30 in 1948. Walker is also the first Lookouts to lead the league in RBIs since Sal Rende accomplished it in 1978.
In the top of the third Jackson scored four runs to take the lead and added one more in the sixth and one more in the seventh.
The Lookouts tried to capture last night's magic in the ninth, but fell two runs short of tying the game.
Outfielder Max Kepler finished the day 1-for-4 to bring his batting average to .322. The Smokies' Wilson Contreras finished the day 4-for-4 to win the League Batting title with a mark of .333.
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The 2015 Southern League Playoffs begin Thursday September 10th at AT&T Field. The first game between the Lookouts and the Biscuits begins at 7:15 p.m. with gates opening at 6:00 p.m.