CHARLOTTE, NC – The Charlotte Knights looked poised to take care of business once again on Saturday evening, but the visiting Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp just kept hanging around. Finally, late in the contest, Jacksonville broke through with a big inning. The visitors never looked back and dealt the Knights a 15-6 loss.
The margin of victory certainly looks large; however, the game was much closer than the score indicates. Charlotte put a position player on the mound in the ninth inning, which led to Jacksonville’s final four runs. The game was also tied 5-5 heading into the eighth.
The Knights used RBI base hits from Korey Lee, Jason Matthews, and Ryan Galanie to build a 5-3 lead at the half-way point. The lead could have been bigger, but the Jumbo Shrimp pitching staff limited the Knights to just 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
In the seventh, Jacksonville netted a pair of runs to draw even. Then in the eighth, the Jumbo Shrimp took advantage of a plethora of walks and posted a six-spot.
Dru Baker and Braden Montgomery combined to go 6-for-9 while Lee and Junior Perez both delivered a two-hit performance. Jonathan Cannon went five innings on the mound, struck out six, and left with the lead.
Charlotte will attempt to win the series outright on Sunday afternoon with the final game of the homestand set for 1:05pm ET.