Zach Lee impressive, but Chattanooga Lookouts fall

photo Jake Lemmerman
Arkansas-SEMO Live Blog

Zach Lee had his best performance for the Chattanooga Lookouts since his promotion to Double-A in late June, but it wouldn't be enough.

The top prospect in the Los Angeles Dodgers organization, according to Baseball America, pitched six scoreless innings Monday night at AT&T Field, but the Mississippi Braves scored two runs in the seventh and came away with a 2-1 victory. The only series between the Lookouts and Braves at AT&T this season is squared at two games apiece heading into tonight's 7:15 finale.

Lee, who signed with LSU to play quarterback before choosing pro baseball, allowed four hits and struck out three while walking none. He eased his rather rocky transition to the Southern League by lowering his earned run average from 7.58 to 6.31.

The Lookouts gave Lee a 1-0 lead in the sixth inning when Jake Lemmerman doubled to right field with two out to score J.T. Wise, who had reached on a one-out single to left.

Eric Eadinton replaced Lee in the seventh and gave up a ground-rule double to right by Joe Leonard and a triple to right by Philip Gosselin that tied the game. Gosselin scored when former Lookout Jaime Pedroza hit a grounder to short that resulted in a Lemmerman throwing error.

The Lookouts (25-19) had runners at the corners with one out in the ninth, but Braves reliever Ryan Buchter got C.J. Retherford to pop out to second base and then struck out Luis Nunez.

Chattanooga center fielder Nick Buss went 0-for-4 and failed to reach base in a game for the first time since June 27.

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