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Mississippi Braves

Jones, Braves Hand Norrito First Loss

July 17, 2007 - Southern League (SL1)
Mississippi Braves News Release


After putting up 12 runs in their last outing, Mississippi faced an undefeated Joey Norrito at Trustmark Park Tuesday night. Norrito came into the game with a 6-0 record and the best ERA in the league. Mississippi responded by ripping 13 hits and plating seven runs to take game one of this five-game series, 7-5. 3,419 fans watched the M-Braves improve to 11-15 in the second half.

J.C. Holt led off Mississippi's half of the first inning with his first triple of '07. He came just a few feet short of his first homer as the ball hit off the left-center field wall. With Holt at third, Brandon Jones drove a fly ball to left field for a sac-fly that scored Holt and gave Mississippi a 1-0 lead.

After Mississippi missed a two-out bases loaded opportunity in the second, Jacksonville took the lead in the top of the third. Four bloop singles brought two runs to the plate putting the Suns on top. Juan Gonzalez blooped a single to left and Jimmy Rohan fisted one to right. Pitcher Joey Norrito squared to bunt and was hit by a pitch to load the bases. With one out, James Tomlin shot a blooper into right field bringing Gonzalez and Rohan to the plate. With the bases still loaded, Mississippi got a 4-6-3 double play to get out of the inning without any further damage being done.

That twin-killing proved to be huge for the M-Braves as they pulled even with the Suns in the fourth. Diory Hernandez led off the bottom of the fourth with an opposite field double down the right field line. Mark Jurich then singled to center field plating Hernandez to tie the score.

One inning later, Brandon Jones struck again. After Carl Loadenthal reached on an error by shortstop Jimmy Rohan, Jones blasted his 15th homer of the year into the Crystal Springs Ford Lincoln Mercury Café in right field.

The M-Braves struck again in the sixth. Moises Hernandez got things started with his second single of the night. He moved to second on a wild pitch and came in to score on a double by J.C. Holt. Mississippi went on to load the bases, but couldn't add anymore runs. After six, the Braves led 5-2.

Jacksonville retaliated in the seventh. Anthony Raglani led off the inning with his 15th homer of the year out to right. A.J. Ellis then singled to right and Juan Gonzalez reached on an error by Moises Hernandez. On a perfect double play opportunity, Moises Hernandez threw to second, but inadvertently tossed the ball into center field allowing Ellis to move to third. Ellis came in to score on a wild pitch cutting the Braves lead to 5-4. With runners at first and second, Francisley Bueno induced the M-Braves third double play to get out of the inning with the lead.

Mississippi got one of those runs back in the bottom of the inning. Mark Jurich led off with a double and came in to score when Van Pope reached on an error by pitcher, Brian Akin. After seven, the M-Braves led 6-4.

Diory Hernandez's blooper to center in the bottom of the eighth plated Carl Loadenthal and gave the M-Braves a 7-4 lead.

Jacksonville threatened in the ninth, but could only muster one run to cut the lead to 7-5.

Moises Hernandez pitched well for six innings. In all, Hernandez gave up four runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings. He left the game in the seventh with a 5-4 lead and earned his first win on the season. Francisley Bueno threw two-thirds of an inning of relief and got the Braves out of a jam in the seventh. Charlie Morton gave up a run in 1.1 innings and Sung Ki Jung came on to record the final two outs and get his first AA save.

Jacksonville's Joey Norrito came into the game with the league's best ERA and a record of 6-0. He suffered his worst outing of the year as Mississippi touched him up for the most hits and runs he'd given up all year. Norrito left the game in the fifth after giving up a two-run homer to Brandon Jones followed by a walk to Matt Esquivel and a Diory Hernandez single. In all, Norrito gave up four runs, three earned, on eight hits in 4.1 innings. He left the game trailing 4-2 and suffered his first loss of ‘07. Mark Alexander gave up a run on two hits in an inning-and-two-thirds. Brian Akin gave up an unearned run in an inning and Luis Gonzalez gave up a run on two hits in an inning.

The Braves and Suns will play game two of this five-game series tomorrow night at 7:05 at Trustmark Park. The M-Braves will send righty James Parr to the hill in search of his fourth win of the year while the Suns will counter with righty James McDonald who's going for his second win. At the gates, the M-Braves will give away Insulated Lunch Bags to the first 1,500 fans at Trustmark Park.

Braves Bites:

* Brandon Jones drove in his Southern League leading 72nd RBI in the first inning ... He drove in his 73rd and 74th RBI with his 15th homer in the fifth ... Jones extended his season-high hit streak to 15 games (23-60, .383) ... He now has 20 RBI in the Braves last 11 games. * Carl Loadenthal stole his 32nd base of the year pushing his single-season team-record to 32 ... Loady extended his hit streak to 12 games (18-48, .375) * J.C. Holt went 2-4 with a double, a triple, an RBI, and a run scored. * Diory Hernandez went 3-5 with a double, an RBI, and a run scored ... He also stole his 15th bag of the year. * Eight of the nine M-Braves batters had at least one hit.

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