Ryan Walker had the best performance of his short stint with the Chattanooga Lookouts.
By far.
The second baseman and 9-hole hitter went 4-for-4 during Monday night’s 12-3 throttling of the Pensacola Blue Wahoos at AT&T Field. Walker was called up from high Single-A Fort Myers of the Florida State League last Wednesday and went 0-for-6 in his first series in Mobile.
Walker did collect his first RBI in Mobile, and he added three Monday, including two on a single to right field in the seventh inning that scored Dalton Hicks and Mitch Garver.
The Lookouts (14-17) entered the third inning down 1-0 but loaded the bases on a fielding error and infield hits by Walker and Shannon Wilkerson. Following a Zach Granite strikeout, Travis Harrison singled to right field to tie the game.
Hicks followed with a single to center that scored Walker and Wilkerson, and then a Garver double to center scored Harrison and Hicks to make it 5-1. Garver went 3-for-5 for the Lookouts, who pounded out 17 hits.
Chattanooga added two runs in the fourth, opening with a T.J. White infield hit, a Walker triple to right and a Wilkerson single to right. Wilkerson’s hit was the ninth against Pensacola starting pitcher Sal Romano, who was pulled at that point.
An announced crowd of 4,197 witnessed Walker’s big night and watched starting pitcher D.J. Baxendale improve to 2-4. Baxendale worked seven innings, allowing three runs on five hits while striking out five.
David Hurlbut (2-1, 6.59 ERA) is scheduled to start tonight’s 7:15 game for the Lookouts, with Jackson Stephens (2-2, 3.95) scheduled for the Blue Wahoos.