Outlaws Beat River Rats 5-4.

The Nashville Outlaws took advantage of one really wild inning of Derek Grabner. The four-run third inning still wasn't enough though as it was Jarred Fancher's solo shot to left in the fifth that ending up as the difference in the 5-4 victory.

Outlaws starter Daniel Palo (2-2) went seven solid innings, but was still plagued by wildness as he walked five hitters and plunked another. Still, he kept his focus even after the team made two costly errors early on which resulted in three unearned runs. Matthew Fitton and closer Jon Ivie struck out two each and capped off another good pitching performance for the bullpen in the final two frames.

With a long roadtrip coming up, it will be important for the bats to come alive. There were signs tonight like Fancher's homerun and some hard shots off the bats of Brouillette and Amann that make you think that good things may be on the way.

Fancher Goes Yard, Outlaws Take Lead.

Jarred Fancher just unloaded on a fastball inside from new Richmond righthander Callahan Bowling. Cool name, doesn't look anything like Chris Farley or Brian Dennehy who ran the fictional Callahan Automotive in the movie Tommy Boy.

No doubt about that moonshot over the green monster of Hawkins Field. It was Fancher's second of the summer and gave him his 10th RBI. Outlaws up now 5-4 through five innings.

Walking Practice for the Outlaws.

It can be truly scary for a team to watch their pitcher suddenly and quite completely lose their feel for the plate. It happened to Richmond southpaw starter Derek Grabner in the third inning. Grabner allowed a double, then hit Kevin Smith, before allowing a two-run double down the rightfield line by Ryan McCauley to plate the Outlaws first two runs. Then Grabner walked four in succession, two with the bases loaded. In all, 10 Outlaws came to the plate in the bottom of the third.

Plate discipline is key for this Outlaws team, as they are in the top five in the Prospect League in OBP with a .366 mark coming into action tonight. The 153 walks drawn through the fourth inning is one behind Richmond who has 154.

Oh yeah, and we are now tied at 4-4 going into the bottom of the fourth.

No Outlaws Broadcast Tonight.

Unfortunately, we will not be able to broadcast tonight's game as several of you have noticed. We will try to keep you updated throughout via the Nashville Outlaws Blog.

Outlaws - River Rats Game Delayed Slightly

As we speak, the two-man umpiring crew has just arrived at Hawkins Field. The game originally scheduled for 6:05 central is going to be a little late. However, we will start this one right about 6:25 pm. The following equation just doesn't work: Late Umpires + Scattered Rain Storms = Delayed Outlaws Baseball.

Daniel Palo goes for the Outlaws and we will see how his command is coming along. The 23 K's is awesome, but now he's just got to work on the 23 walks. But that is what summer baseball is all about, working on your secondary pitches.

More on the Outlaws Twilight Zone Rainout.

By Eric Jones

The rain came fast and with the sun shining steadily at Hawkins Field. At first, you figured that it was just a quick cloudburst, typical of a 98 degree Nashville summer day, but then it just started coming down harder.

Outlaws GM, Brandon Vonderharr admitted that he was glad the rain didn't come sooner as Hannibal had just got into their dugout when it started. "I don't think Jay Hemond (Hannibal's manager) would have believed me that it was even raining. Blue skies and here we are dumbfounded that it's even raining at all and then it comes down harder." Vonderharr and the staff didn't even have time to get the tarp in position as it looked to be a passing shower. The downpour ended up like a Bill Veeck promotion gone bad and washed the game out completely.

There might be some Veeck-esque pretense here after all. Jay Hemond is the son of former Chicago White Sox general manager Roland Hemond who served under Bill Veeck for many years. Although the Outlaws-Cavemen rainout won't rank up there with Veeck's 1979 Disco Demolition promotion where he actually blew up part of Comiskey Park's field, the oddity of the situation will go down as the first rainout in Outlaws history...under sunny skies.