Chattanooga Lookouts shortstop Corey Seager watches his line drive drill Huntsville Stars’ pitcher Brent Suter early in Monday night’s game at AT&T Field. Suter needed some time to recover but was able to continue.
After advancing to second base after his third-inning single Monday night, Chattanooga’s Noel Cuevas just beats the throw back to second at AT&T Field. The Lookouts beat the Huntsville Stars 7-6 and move on to the Southern League championship series against Jacksonville.At the beginning of August, the Chattanooga Lookouts were in the midst of a disappointing season and seven and a half games out of first place in their division. Now, one month later, they will play for a Southern League title.
In a roller-coaster game Monday night at AT&T Field that seemed to reflect their season, they delivered a thrilling 7-6 victory over the Huntsville Stars that determined the North Division champion.
“We knew it was possible the whole time,” Lookouts manager Razor Shines said about his club’s improbable turnaround. “It’s hard to stay positive when you’re 28 games under .500, but I’m telling you, we started this series with the same team that we started the season with, and I knew we were going to get better. I didn’t know how much better, but I knew we were going to get better and contend.”
Shines’ Lookouts, who had been quiet offensively throughout the series, having scored four runs in the previous four games, erupted for seven runs on nine hits.
“When you stay with your philosophy, good things happen,” the manager said. “We were hitting under .200 early in the season and finished batting .258. We believe in what we’re doing here.”