For the third night in a row the Chattanooga Lookouts and Birmingham Barons found themselves in a low scoring pitching duel. On Thursday night the game was scoreless into the eighth inning after Lookouts starter Jared Lyons and reliever Joel Valdez scattered a combined four hits with no runs. Not to be out done, Birmingham starter Shane Murphy went seven scoreless himself before allowing a run in the eighth.
Cade Hunter scored the first run of the game to give the Lookouts a brief 1-0 lead. Hunter came home on an Edwin Arroyo sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the inning the Barons responded with a homerun by Colby Smelley, his first of the season.
In the bottom of the ninth Lookouts reliever Brooks Crawford walked the leadoff batter, then a line drive glanced off of second baseman Austin Callahan to give the Barons runners at first and second. DJ Gladney was then hit by a pitch to load the bases with nobody out. The next batter, Caden Connor walked it off with a base hit to centerfield.
Crawford falls to 1-4 on the season and it was his third blown save. Ethan O'Donnell had two of the Lookouts five hits.
The two teams will now move the series to Chattanooga for the concluding three games. Friday night's Fourth of July game will start at 7:15 and will be followed by a fireworks celebration.