Durham Bulls (31-25) 3, Gwinnett Braves (26-27) 4 F/11

Box Score

Gwinnett went home victors (after an absurd number of rain-outs lately) on the back of recently signed Ryan Lavarnway's walk-off home run in the bottom of the 11th inning, his second extra-base hit of the night. Jose Peraza had a useful night as well with two singles, driving in a run, and stealing a base. That raises his average to .290 on the season and he started in center field again, begging the question of when and how we will see him in the big leagues. Sugar Ray Marimon had a good start for Gwinnett as well, giving up 2 runs in 6 innings despite having an errant pick-off throw lead to a run. And finally, our favorite Aussie Peter Moylan continued his quest on the comeback trail with a scoreless inning of relief in which he threw 19 pitches. It was good to see the Gwinnett players actually get to play with all of the rainy weather that has been plaguing the South of late.

Jackson Generals (22-31) 3, Mississippi Braves (30-23) 4 F/12

Box Score

Matt Lipka, CF: 2-6, 1 2B, walk-off single in the 12th, .285/.318/..345

Kevin Ahrens , 3B: 2-5, 1 2B, 1 RBI, .250/

Jorge Reyes , SP: 4 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 5 Ks, 1.42 ERA

Mississippi Braves Bullpen: 8 IP, 5 BB, 6 Ks, 2 ER, 5 htis

Not to be outdone, Mississippi went one inning better and walked off on Matt Lipka's single in the bottom of the 12th inning to beat the Jackson Generals. Normally Lipka would not have been in CF or leading off, but regular lead-off man and emerging prospect Mallex Smith was out of the line-up for the second straight game. No word if he is nursing an injury, but we will keep you posted the best we can. Gwinnett scattered nine hits over 12 innings but with the help of 5 walks manage to manufacture runs when needed despite striking out 10 times as a team. Jorge Reyes, who normally is a reliever, got the start and did quite well despite only going 4 innings as he is stretched out to see if he could have a chance to be a regular starter. The bullpen was a bit of an adventure (not unlike the big club), but did keep the Generals in check in extra innings and allowed Mississippi to get out with a win.

Carolina Mudcats (25-26) 5, Myrtle Beach (31-20) 3 Game One

Box Score

Jacob Schrader, 1B: 1-3, 1 2B, 3 RBI, .299/.336/.561

Carlos Franco, 3B: 2-3, HR, .226/.288/.357

Dustin Peterson , LF: 1-3, 1 R, .299

Seth Webster, SP: 7 IP (CG), 5 H, 3 ER, 7 Ks, 0 BB, 1.71 ERA

Jacob Schrader was the difference in this game as he drove in 3 runs to help the Mudcats beat Myrtle Beach 5-3. He is quietly having a good year down in Carolina, although he does need to cut down on his strikeouts (29 in 107 at-bats) and walk more (just 5 all year). Carlos Franco also had a good game with a couple of hits as did Connor Lien and Johan Carmargo. It was the bottom part of the order setting the table in this one as the 6-9 hitters went a combined 6-12 with 3 runs scored. Seth Webster has been quite good in limited action this year as he threw a complete game (only 7 innings because it was a minor league double header). giving up 3 runs on 5 hits.

Carolina Mudcats (25-27) 2, Myrtle Beach (32-20) 5 Game Two

Box Score

Carlos Franco, 3B: 1-2, 3B, 1 R, BB, .226/.288/.357

Dustin Peterson, LF: 1-2, 1 2B, BB, .303/.378/.429

Andrew Waszak, SP: 5 IP, 4 H, 3 R (2 earned), 4 Ks, 2 BB, 2.96 ERA

Matt Marksberry, RP: 1 IP, 2 ER, 2 K, 3.46 ERA

This game was not nearly as good for the Mudcats as defensive miscues and a poor outing in relief for Matt Marksberry allowed Myrtle Beach to score 4 runs in the bottom of the 6th and steal the game from the Mudcats. Andrew Waszak's start was quite good despite him having limited starting experience and would have been much better if Marksberry hadn't allowed inherited runners to score. Dustin Peterson is getting back on track, getting hits in both halves of the double header, but the Mudcats for the most part had their offense stifled as they scattered 7 hits over 7 innings while making 2 errors in the field.

West Virginia (33-22) 2, Rome Braves (26-29) 13

Box Score

Ozhaino Albies , SS: 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R, .318/.381/.405

Tanner Krietemeier, 1B: 4-5, 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R, .244/.295/.315

Justin Black, LF: 2-4, HR, 2 RBI, 3 R, .333

Max Povse, SP: 5 1/3 IP, 5 H, 2 R (1 earned), 4 Ks, 1 BB, 2.14 ERA

Max Povse was excellent for Rome once again and the offense backed him up in a big way with 13 runs on 18 hits. Max has given up 2 ER or fewer in his past 6 starts. If he can start going later in to games, he could turn in to quite the young pitching prospect. Its hard to isolate offensive performances in this one as just about everyone in the line-up feasted on the Power's pitching in this one. Braxton Davidson had a multi-hit game with a couple of RBI, Ozhaino Albies has a 12 game hitting streak now as he had 3 hits including 2 doubles, and 6 Rome players overall had multi-hit games.

Guess what?! No rain outs! HOORAY! Lets hope this continues throughout the weekend and these teams can continue the good work they put in.