Tommy Lasorda's pregame speech and James Tomlin's leadoff triple helped the Chattanooga Lookouts set a victorious tone Friday night at AT&T Field, but they needed shaky Carolina relief pitching and a lively crowd to seal the 4-3 win.

A packed audience of 6,393 watched as Chattanooga improved to 6-6 in the Southern League's second half. Friday marked the first full house this season at AT&T and the 10th consecutive year in which a July 3 or July 4 game has sold out.

"That was pretty cool," Lookouts all-star reliever Matt Sartor said moments after striking out Jerry Gil to end the game. "It was nice being able to hear the crowd behind you. It gives you an extra run on the ball, that's for sure."

Chattanooga broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh inning when Russ Mitchell was hit by a Ruben Medina pitch, advanced to third on Tommy Giles' pinch-hit single to right and scored on Korey Feiner's passed ball. Giles went to second on the passed ball, advanced to third on a Medina wild pitch and came home on Ramon Nivar's infield hit to make it 4-2.

The Lookouts won four of the six games in the series, which included four one-run games.

"It was important to win this series," manager John Valentin said. "To go on the road after a 3-3 split is something that probably wouldn't have tasted too well."

Lasorda, who managed the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1977 to '96, spoke to Lookouts players in the clubhouse and then addressed Lookouts fans before the game. He reiterated his hopes for a lengthy player development partnership and expressed pride in being associated with the people of Chattanooga.

"He gave us a great speech, letting us know what we have to do to play the game the right way," Tomlin said. "I came out wanting to do my job, make him proud and make the Dodgers organization proud."

Said Valentin: "He's been pretty inspirational. Obviously he's 'Mr. Dodger' and bleeds Dodger blue, and so do we. It's a great treat to have him, and I hope he makes this trip every year."

Tomlin scored in the first inning on a two-out fielding error by Mudcats starting pitcher Travis Wood, but a balk by Lookouts starter J.D. Durbin in the second brought home Todd Frazier. Chattanooga went up 2-1 later in the second when Mitchell led off with a home run to right-center.

The homer was just the second allowed by Wood this season in 100 innings pitched.

Wood, who leads the league in earned run average, and Durbin, who was making just his third start this season, had identical pitching lines in last Sunday's series opener. They were strangely similar again, with Durbin allowing five hits and two runs in seven innings to Wood's four hits and two runs in six.

"I've been around nine years and started for seven of them, so starting doesn't come new to me," Durbin said. "I'm just glad I got to go later in the game and keep as few runs on the board as possible."

Jesus Castillo (4-6, 4.84 ERA) is scheduled to the Lookouts' series opener in Mobile tonight, with Jarrod Parker (4-3, 2.87) scheduled for the BayBears.

Paying for Lasorda

The Lookouts wore one-time jersey tops that were auctioned off during the game. The jersey of left fielder and top organizational prospect Andrew Lambo was expected to draw the highest bid, but it became no contest once one was created for Lasorda.

Lasorda's jersey went for $550, followed by those of Lambo ($110), Mitchell ($90) and hitting coach Luis Salazar ($85).