It was simple math.
The Chattanooga Lookouts entered Saturday night's game against Jackson at AT&T Field trailing the Generals by five games in the North Division with 15 games remaining in the Southern League's first half. It would normally be a long shot for the Lookouts, but 10 of those 15 games happen to be against Jackson.
"We need to win four games this series," Lookouts manager Carlos Subero said. "If you take three out of five, all you are advancing is one game, and we would still be behind four with 10 to go. Sooner or later, you're going to have to take four or five to win it, whether it's here or when we go there [June 13], but we would all like a scenario where we could compete in the last 10 games."
Chattanooga's chore got a lot tougher after Jackson won the series opener 6-5 before a crowd of 5,263. The Generals went ahead in the top of the ninth inning when Jesus Sucre struck out on a wild pitch by Logan Bawcom that got to the backstop, enabling Sucre to reach first and Francisco Martinez to score from third.
The Lookouts (28-28) are six games back of the Generals (34-22) with 14 games left in the half.
Luis Nunez's RBI triple to left-center field in the seventh inning tied the game for Chattanooga after Nick Franklin's three-run home run to right earlier in the seventh gave the Generals a 5-4 lead. Kyle Russell's three-run homer to right in the fourth inning had put the Lookouts up 4-2.
Russell's heroics came at the expense of Jackson starting pitcher Taijuan Walker, a 19-year-old Californian ranked by Baseball America as the No. 2 prospect in the Seattle Mariners organization.
"It's basically time to bear down," Lookouts catcher Griff Erickson said. "Our team is playing really well right now, and this is definitely a team that can do it."
Matt Magill (5-2, 3.40 ERA) is scheduled to start today's 2:15 game for the Lookouts, with Danny Hultzen (5-3, 1.59) scheduled for the Generals. Hultzen was Seattle's first-round pick last year and received a $6.35 million signing bonus.