Tommy Watkins had expressed optimism about the rest of the season for the Chattanooga Lookouts.
The team gave its first-year manager no reason to second-guess himself Thursday night.
The Lookouts returned from the all-star break and opened the second half of their Southern League schedule with a 12-2 rout of the Biloxi Shuckers in front of 2,516 at AT&T Field.
The Shuckers were the South Division champions for the first half, when Chattanooga finished third in the North Division after losing 10 of its final 13 games. But the Lookouts split their final four games in a road series with the Birmingham Barons and scored 26 runs in those two wins.
The hits kept coming Thursday night, when Chattanooga left fielder Jimmy Kerrigan went 4-for-5, scored four runs and was one of three Lookouts who homered off Biloxi starter Luis Ortiz (1-3). Kerrigan connected in the fourth inning, while Tanner English hit his in the second and Brent Rooker homered in the fourth for his 10th of the season.
Chris Paul didn't homer, but he went 3-for-5 with two doubles and drove in six runs, and Ryan Walker was 3-for-5 with an RBI.
Chattanooga starter Lewis Thorpe (4-4) had a three-run cushion after the first inning, and the Lookouts were up 12-0 when Thorpe exited after seven innings having allowed just two baserunners. Biloxi's Blake Allemand broke up the no-hitter with his two-out single in the fifth, and Trent Grisham drew a one-out walk in the sixth.
Thorpe struck out 12 and lowered his season ERA to 4.26.
The Lookouts' Paco Rodriguez gave up a hit in the eighth and Ryan Eades allowed both runs on two hits and a walk in the ninth.
Chattanooga's biggest inning at the plate was the seventh, when Sean Miller and English reached on back-to-back fielding errors and James Ramsey walked to load the bases for Kerrigan, whose single scored Miller. Paul's second double of the night cleared the reloaded bases.