Outlaws take series, outlast Gems 12-9

By TY

Box Score

Trailing 5-0 after the first inning, the Nashville Outlaws stormed back with a seven-run, seven-hit third inning to take an 8-6 lead and held on for a 12-9 win against Quincy at Hawkins Field on Tuesday evening.

Tuesday’s game was highlighted by Johnny Amann’s two third-inning triples. Amann became the first player in the Prospect League's history to record two triples in the same inning.

According to Baseball-Almanac, there have only been 11 players in professional baseball to record two triples in the same inning. The last player to accomplish the rare feat was Cory Sullivan of the Colorado Rockies who tripled twice in the same inning against the San Diego Padres on April 9, 2006.

Nashville trailed 6-1 heading into the bottom half of the third inning before sending 11 hitters to the plate in the seven-run inning. The first three hits of the inning went for extra bases. Amann led off the inning with a triple to deep center and then came into score on Bryan Johns (Vanderbilt) RBI-double. Doug Joyce (Florida International) then drove in Johns from second with a double down the left field line to make it a 6-3 game in favor of Quincy. Following a strikeout and a ground out, Andrew Brouillette (LSU-Shreveport), Jack Lupo (Vanderbilt) and Matt Borgschulte (Western Kentucky) recorded consecutive two-out singles to load the bases for Amann. After working the count to 2-1, Amann laced a bases-clearing triple to right-center to give the Outlaws an 8-6 lead.

Quincy pulled within a run of tying the game in the fourth when Steve Fernandez’s two-out double allowed Zach Kometani to score from second, making it an 8-7 game.

With a slim 8-7 lead, the Outlaws would break the game open in the fourth, scoring four runs on just two hits while taking advantage of three walks, two wild pitches, one passed ball and a hit-by-pitch to go up 12-7.

Amann, Lupo and Joyce led the 11-hit Nashville attack with two hits apiece while Ryan McCauley (Niagara), Brouillette and Amann all had multiple-RBI games.

Steven Murray earned his second win of the summer, allowing one run on two hits in two innings of middle relief.

Kevin Crumb (Buffalo) lowered his ERA to 0.82 after throwing three innings of one-hit relief while Jon Ivie (Belmont) allowed one unearned run on two hits with two strikeouts in the final two innings. Ivie has been terrific out of the bullpen this summer, throwing 17.1 innings of scoreless relief including a Prospect League high seven saves.

With the 12-9 win Tuesday, the Outlaws clinched the two-game series over the Gems and returned to .500 on the season with an overall record of 19-19, including 5-5 in the second half. The Outlaws are now just 2 games out of first-place in the Central Division.

The loss drops the Gems to 23-17 overall and 7-5 in the second half of the season.

Nashville will be off Wednesday, before returning to the friendly confines of Hawkins Field on Thursday for what will be the start of five straight games in five days at home.

The Outlaws will host the West Virginia Miners for three games starting on Thursday (7:05 p.m. start) before hosting Terre Haute for two games on Sunday and Monday.

For tickets log onto www.nashvilleoutlaws.com or call the Nashville Outlaws at 615-866-1040.