Outlaws topple Dubois County, 12-6

By TY

Box Score | Season Stats

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A night after collecting just five hits, the Nashville Outlaws pounded out 14 hits en route to a 12-6 win over Dubois County at Faith & Family Night at Hawkins Field Sunday. Five Outlaws recorded at least two hits in the win.


With the win, the Outlaws improve to 26-22 overall, including 12-8 in the second half of the season. Nashville continues to make a strong push to the postseason, having won 9 of their last 12 games since July 19. In addition, with Terre Haute losing to Quincy on Sunday, the Outlaws pulled within 1.5 games of the Rex for the central division second-half title race.

Dubois County (19-29, 9-13) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first inning and led 3-1 until the fourth inning.

In the fourth, the Outlaws sent 10 batters to the plate while scoring six runs on seven hits to take a 7-3 lead. Ryan McCauley (Niagara) notched two singles in the inning while Ryan Emery (Arkansas State), Jack Lupo (Vanderbilt), Greg Bachman (Austin Peay), Kevin Smith (LSU-Shreveport) and McCauley drove in at least one run in the inning.

The Bombers scored one run in the top of the fifth on a throwing error by Outlaw starter Navery Moore (Vanderbilt).

With a 7-4 lead, Nashville tacked on two more runs in the sixth as Bryan Johns (Vanderbilt), Doug Joyce (Florida International) and Smith tallied hits in the inning.

Dubois County cut into Nashville’s five-run lead in the top of the eighth with two runs on three hits while taking advantage of an Outlaw error to make it a 9-6 game.

The Outlaws would eventually break the game open in the bottom of the eighth with three more runs on three hits. Smith led off the inning with his second double of the game and then scored on Joyce’s RBI-single to center in the very next at-bat. Following a Bachman single, and walk to McCauley, Andrew Brouillette (LSU-Shreveport) was then hit by Emerson Morillo with the bases loaded allowing Joyce to score. Three at-bats and two outs later, Bachman scored the third run of the inning on a wild pitch by Morillo.

Nashville’s Moore earned the win Sunday, allowing four runs, three earned on six hits in six innings. The Franklin, Tenn., native struck out seven and walked four while throwing a 106 pitches.

PJ Francescon (Trevecca Nazarene), Kevin Crumb (Buffalo) and Jon Ivie (Belmont) all threw one inning of relief Sunday.

Ivie threw a scoreless ninth to run his season-total scoreless innings streak to 23.1 innings.

Offensively, Johns and Joyce led the Outlaws with three hits apiece while Bachman, McCauley and Smith had two each. Smith went 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI to raise his batting average to .375, which currently leads the Prospect League. Emery also continued his hot bat Sunday, finishing 1-for-2 with a pair of RBI and a run scored.


Nashville gets a much-deserved day of rest tomorrow after playing 10 games in the last 11 days.

The Outlaws will host Richmond (26-23, 12-10) on Tuesday and Wednesday at Hawkins Field. Tuesday will feature two games as the Outlaws and River Rats will resume the July 17th-game that was tied 3-3 in the top of the 11th when the game was suspended due to lightning. Following the conclusion of the first game, Nashville and Richmond will play a second game approximately 20-30 minutes after the completion of the first game.


Other notes: Prior to the start of the game on Sunday, former Major League All-Star Kent Bottenfield and Gospel Music Academy Award winner Erik Bledsoe performed on the concourse next to Hawkins Field and Vanderbilt Stadium.