Braves Blank Diamond Jaxx

The M-Braves trotted newcomer Edgar Osuna to the hill to make his AA debut not quite knowing how the kid would react to AA hitters.  He more than held his own by holding West Tenn to one hit and no runs in seven scoreless innings.  Mississippi’s pitchers held the Diamond Jaxx to one run over the last 37 innings and zero runs over the last 20 innings in the series.  With the 4-0 blanking of the D-Jaxx Thursday night, the Braves shut out West Tenn in back-to-back games and in three of the last four games. 

The M-Braves took a 1-0 lead in the second when Brandon Hicks came up with a big two-out hit.  Concepcion Rodriguez walked and moved and moved to second on a groundout.  Hicks shot a single through the right side and Rodriguez scored from second without a throw to put Mississippi the board. 

The Braves put up another run in the fifth on Willie Cabrera’s sac-fly.  Kala Ka’aihue started the rally with a single to right and when Matt Young walked and Travis Jones got hit by a pitch, the bases were loaded.  Cabrera’ s fly to center gave Mississippi an important insurance run. 

JC Boscan’s bases-loaded single in the seventh blew the game open.  Ka’aihue drew a one-out walk and Young followed with a single up the middle.  Jones drew a walk to load the bases and Boscan stepped to the plate with two outs.  He ripped a single up the middle that scored Ka’aihue and Young to push Mississippi’s lead to 4-0. 

Edgar Osuna was nothing short of spectacular in his AA debut.  The 21-year old gave up only one hit through seven scoreless innings to earn his first AA win.  Brandon Beachy came on in relief and threw one scoreless inning in his AA debut.  Steve Marek threw a shutout ninth to finish out the shutout.

West Tenn’s Justin Souza had a quality start, but he was outdone by Osuna.  Souza gave up two runs on four hits in five solid innings and still suffered his fourth loss of ’09.  Anthony Varvaro gave up two runs on three hits in two innings.  Matt Renfree threw one scoreless inning of relief. 

The Braves travel to Mobile, AL for game one of a five-game series with the BayBears at Hank Aaron Stadium Friday.  Lefty Scott Diamond (1-5, 4.20) will take on righty Matt Torra (3-5, 4.04) in the series opener.

The M-Braves return to Trustmark Park on Thursday, June 11th against the Birmingham Barons.  It will be Thirsty Thursday when they return, but also Turn Back the Clock Night.  The Braves and BayBears will wear the same retro uniforms they wore for the Rickwood Classic.  Mississippi will don the famous powder blue uniforms worn by Braves’ greats of the 1980’s.