It was a hot, hot day at AT&T Field Wednesday, probably too hot for a minor league baseball game to be played in downtown Chattanooga
Unfortunately, weather doesn’t always dictate when and if an athletic contest will be played, so the 12:15 start between the Biloxi Shuckers and the host Chattanooga Lookouts went on as scheduled.
Both teams just seemed to be going through the motions as there were more strikeouts than base hits. Biloxi finished with eight hits, but struck out 18 times. Chattanooga was limited to five hits as they struck out 11 times.
Lanky southpaw Connor Curlis probably deserved a better fate, but he was charged with the loss after allowing three runs on six hits while striking out 13 in six innings of work.
He pitched well enough to win, but the Lookout bats must have been left in the clubhouse as Biloxi came from behind to post a 5-2 victory.
The Shuckers improved to 27-30 with the win while the Lookouts are now 31-28 after their three-game winning streak was snapped.
Chattanooga scored single runs in the second and third innings, both on solo homers, but the offense was all but nonexistent following a one-out single by T.J. Hopkins in the fourth as 15 straight Lookouts were retired.
Isiah Gilliam ripped a double to left with one out in the ninth to snap that string, but nothing else happened as Michael De Leon and Hopkins both grounded to second to end the game.
Hopkins hit his ninth homer to give Chattanooga a 1-0 lead in the second.
Biloxi then scored two in the third before a solo shot from Michael Siani evened the score at 2-2.
A run-scoring double by Jason Lopez in the fourth gave Biloxi a 3-2 lead while a two-run homer from Cam Devanney in the eighth accounted for the final two runs.
Noah Campbell was the only Biloxi player with two hits while Hopkins was the only Lookout with two.
Noah Zavolas was the winning pitcher and evened his record at 1-1 after allowing the two runs on four hits in six innings. He also had eight strikeouts and a walk.
Zach Vennaro was the fourth pitcher for the Shuckers and earned the save after allowing the one hit in the ninth.
The series is now tied at one game apiece and will continue on Thursday night with the first pitch scheduled for 7:15 p.m.
BILOXI 002 100 020 – 5 8 0
CHATTANOOGA 011 000 000 – 2 5 1
Zavolas, Floyd (7), Hitt (8), Vennaro (9) and Lopez; Curlis, Branche (7), Keys (9) and Yang.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)