Generals ride rollercoaster moments to finale win

JACKSON, TENN. - How do you win a game that looks certain to be a loss? It's a question baseball fans can ask almost any night of the summer, and it was asked on Thursday at The Ballpark at Jackson by many. The Jackson Generals - playing with first place in Southern League's North Division on the line - appeared to have been corned into a loss after a late-game rally from the Tennessee Smokies. They trailed 5-4 entering the bottom of the ninth inning, and they were still trailing when Rudy Flores hit an apparent game-ending pop-up to left field.

But a funny thing happened: the game didn't end. Flores answered the question: Just keep going. Nothing is certain.
The truth came in stranger than fiction on Thursday night, as Flores and the Generals pulled off an odds-defying 6-5 victory in extra innings that featured a number of wild emotional swings. The win by the Generals helped Jackson split the six-game series with Tennessee (31-29), but even more importantly, it brought the Generals (33-27) even with the Chattanooga Lookouts for first place in the Southern League's North Division with just ten games remaining in the First Half.      
Long before Flores batted with two outs in the ninth, the All-Star first baseman got the Jackson offense rolling in the fourth inning of a 1-1 ballgame with a leadoff double. Josh Prince, batting behind Flores, reached on a throwing error by Tennessee third baseman Jason Vosler, allowing Flores to advance to third while Prince got to second. Jason Morozowski, despite a 1-for-13 slump after returning from the disabled list on June 4, smacked a run-scoring single right back through the box to put the Generals ahead 2-1. Jose Vinicio followed with an RBI groundout to shortstop, and Jose Queliz trailed him with another RBI single, netting Jackson a 4-1 lead by the end of the frame. That was the last instance of Jackson scoring until the bottom of the ninth.
Taylor Widener returned to the mound in the top of the fifth with a three-run lead, and that was how he departed the game after 5.2 innings, giving up a single run on a solo shot by Tennessee's Trey Martin in the first inning. The fruits of Widener's labors came undone in the seventh, as Mason McCullough and Kirby Bellow allowed the Smokies to score four times with four hits and three walks, giving the visitors a 5-4 lead. Kevin Ginkel and Rafael Pujols each followed with scoreless frames, handing the baton back to a Jackson offense that was batting .202 in six June games entering the night.
After a pair of outs by the two men hitting ahead of him in the ninth, Flores swung at the first pitch from Tennessee's James Norwood and lifted a routine fly ball to left field. Tennessee left fielder Eddy Rodriguez, on the verge of squeezing the game's final out, inexplicably allowed the ball to glance off his glove, permitting Flores to reach second base in bewildering fashion. With manager Shelley Duncan having been ejected after the eighth inning for arguing balls and strikes, acting manager Vince Harrison, the Jackson hitting coach, turned to pinch hitter David Sopilka to bat for Pujols with Flores at second base. In only his seventh at-bat of the season, Sopilka smashed a 2-1 pitch into the gap in right-center for his first extra-base hit at Double-A, allowing Flores to score the game-tying run and bring extra innings to life.     
Brad Goldberg (1-0, 2.59 ERA) retired three Smokies in a row in the top of the tenth to hold Tennessee without a run, and the Generals began the bottom of the inning with Morozowski at second base, placed there by rule of being the last man to make an out in the previous inning. After a ball and a strike, Jose Vinicio laid down a great bunt to the left side of the infield that moved Morozowski to third base. On a close play at first base, Vinicio was ruled out, and the Generals' third baseman was quickly ejected by first base umpire Chase Eade after venting his frustrations.
As the last Generals infielder available, Vinicio's absence could have played a critical role in the way the following inning would play out, and Harrison managed aggressively to account for that fact. With Queliz at the plate, the Generals attempted a squeeze bunt to win the game, but the attempt went foul, bringing Morozowksi back to third base. In a two-strike count three pitches later, Queliz barreled up a liner to right field that was deep enough to bring home Morozowski from third, triggering a stream of Generals players rushing out of the third-base-side dugout to joyously mob Queliz just beyond first base. The unlikely win for Jackson featured a trio of unearned runs allowed by Tennessee, as the Generals improved to 2-4 in extra innings contests and 2-22 when trailing after eight innings.          
TOP PERFORMERS - GENERALS
1B Rudy Flores - 3-5, 2 R
3B Josh Prince - 1-2, 2 R, BB
SS/3B Jose Vinicio - 2-4, 2 RBI
RF Jason Morozowski - 1-4, 2 R, RBI, BB
C Jose Queliz - 2-5, 2 RBI
PH David Sopilka - 1-1, 2B, RBI
RHP Taylor Widener - 5.2 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 3 BB, 4 K  
Relief pitchers Brad Goldberg, Rafael Pujols, and Kevin Ginkel - 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R 1 BB, 3 K
TOP PERFORMERS - TENNESSEE
CF Trey Martin - 1-4, R, HR, RBI, 2 BB
C Ian Rice - 2-4, 2 RBI, 2 2B
Relief pitchers Zach Hedges and Jake Stinnett - 4.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 K
NEXT GENERALS GAME:
7:05 pm CT Friday (6/8) vs. Mobile BayBears
Hank Aaron Stadium - Mobile, Alabama
RHP Justin Donatella (3-3, 3.28 ERA) vs. RHP Jesus Castillo (4-4, 5.06 ERA)
UPCOMING GENERALS GAMES
June 19 - 2018 Southern League All-Star Game in Birmingham, Alabama (Regions Field - TICKETS HERE)
…featuring Generals players Taylor Widener, Jamie Westbrook, Rudy Flores, Juniel Querecuto, and Kevin Medrano!
June 21-26 vs. Pensacola Blue Wahoos
…featuring Sarge's Carnival Weekend (June 22-23)!
Dial 731-988-5299 for tickets to see Jackson Generals Baseball, OR
log on to JacksonGeneralsBaseball.com for more information!