Andrew Abbott
A wretched fifth inning doomed Andrew Abbott to his first loss as a Lookout while Chattanooga went down 5-3 in Montgomery. With no outs in the inning, Grant Witherspoon stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded. On the very first pitch he saw, Witherspoon whipped his bat onto the ball and tripled to center.
In came Roberto Alvarez, and then Tyler Frank and lastly Brett Wisely joined them in the dugout as the Biscuits took a 3-1 lead.
Curtis Mead was the very next batter, and he sent Witherspoon across home plate with a fly ball into right.
This huge inning knocked out Andrew Abbott, who threw five innings, allowed four earned runs on five hits and two walks, and struck out seven. Michael Byrne and JC Keys threw three scoreless frames afterward. Biscuit starter Taj Bradley threw a little over four innings and struck out seven while allowing four hits and one earned run.
That single earned run came in the top of the fourth. Bradley walked Chuckie Robinson, and then Leo Rivas (who went 3-4) doubled into right and moved his catcher to third. A wild pitch by Bradley scored Robinson.
Chattanooga’s TJ Hopkins cut the deficit to 4-2 when he belted his seventh home run of the season to left. But Montgomery’s Alvarez made up for it in the bottom of the eighth with a RBI single. Lookout center fielder Mike Siani tried to start a rally with a solo homer to deep right, but that was all the Lookouts could muster.
BOX SCORE:
CHATTANOOGA: 000 101 001 – 3/7/2
MONTGOMERY: 000 040 01X – 5/8/0
WP: STERNER
LP: ABBOTT
SV: ROBERSON