Brent Rooker, who appears to have adjusted to Double-A pitching, slammed his second home run of the week in Wednesday's game.
photo by Tim Evearitt
The Chattanooga Lookouts have been winning one series after another in recent days and Wednesday's (8-6) win made it 4-out-of-5 victories and their second series win this season over the Tennessee Smokies. The weather was perfect and over 4,400 were on hand for the game; many of the fans were school-children who were also enjoying an end-of-the-year outing. The Lookouts won 9-of-10 games on this homestand.
The team has been hitting home runs in nearly every contest. Except for the first game of this home series with Tennessee, Chattanooga had at least one home run in every game.
Brent Rooker hit a home run in today's (Wednesday) win, and the former Mississippi State star had a homer in Sunday's 11-10 loss. Rooker has now hit three home runs in his last six games.
Trailing 5-4 at the stretch, the Lookouts loaded the bases in the seventh inning thanks to a walk and a pair of singles from LaMonte Wade and Rooker. With Zander Wiel at the plate, Smokies right-hander Daury Torrez threw one in the dirt that got away from catcher Erick Castillo. Tanner English scored easily from third and he was followed in by Wade, who came flying around from second base to plate the go-ahead run. An RBI single from Wiel and an RBI double from T.J. White ensued, leading Chattanooga to an 8-5 lead they would never relinquish.
Wade drove in a pair of runs for the second time in his last three games. Right-hander Sam Clay became the seventh Lookouts pitcher to pick up a save this season, surrendering one run across two innings of work to close out the game.
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Following Thursday's much needed off-day, Chattanooga opens a five-game series at Biloxi. The Lookouts lead the North Division of the Southern League and the Shuckers are leading the South Division.The series could be a preview of the 2018 championship playoffs.