The Sounds saved their best for last, putting up a trio of runs in the ninth inning on Saturday night at Zephyr Field and defeating New Orleans 4-2 in the series opener.

The Sounds had been 0-22 when trailing after eight innings, but busted through for a big ninth inning and improved to 27-29 on the season.

Nate Freiman and Bryan Anderson started the rally with back-to-back singles. Alden Carrithers moved the runners ahead with a sacrifice bunt and Niuman Romero reached when he was intentionally walked. With the bags packed, Anthony Aliotti stepped in and busted his fourth hit of the night to tie things up. Craig Gentry tilted the contest back in Nashville’s favor, getting hit on the first pitch of his at-bat to allow Anderson to score. Joey Wendle concluded the charge with an RBI groundout and capped the biggest comeback of the season for Nashville.

The win was the fourth come-from-behind victory for the Sounds this season, and it also extended Nashville’s road winning streak to a season-best five games. The win was rooted in a terrific pitching effort from Zach Neal though.

Neal spun another terrific outing, tossing eight innings on just 73 pitches in his fifth start with the Sounds. The eight frames tied a season high for Neal, who surrendered two runs on six hits. It marked his third consecutive quality start and gave him his team-leading fifth win.

Ryan Cook had a touch of trouble in the ninth inning, but got the job done for the visitors. The reliever’s fifth save this season helped boost the bullpen’s save total to 5-for-5 over the last 10 games.

Nashville outhit New Orleans, 12-6, and was led by Aliotti. It was the first four-hit game of the year for the first baseman and it upped his average to .292. Freiman and Gentry both had multi-hit games tos help the Sounds steal the series opener.

The two teams are back at it again Sunday afternoon with a 1:00 p.m. contest. The Sounds will turn to Brad Mills (2-6, 3.75) and the Zephyrs will counter with Justin Nicolino.

Barry Zito extended his scoreless streak and shut down the Bees on Friday night, leading Nashville to a 1-0 win in front of a record-setting 11,482 fans at First Tennessee Park.

The Sounds moved to 8-2 in their last 10 games and won six of eight during the homestand. They also improved to 9-11 in one-run contests, while the shutout was their sixth this season.

Zito did not begin his league-leading 12th start the way he wanted to, but was on point by the end of his outing. The Bees had base runners from the first batter until the fourth inning, but the veteran eventually settled in. The left-hander extended his scoreless streak to 21.0 frames and retired eight Salt Lake batters in a row during the appearance. Zito went seven shutout innings, allowing five hits and striking out five batters to improve his record to 4-4. The Sounds are now 8-3 when a starter manages seven innings and four of the team’s six shutouts have come when Zito has made the start.

The Sounds were outhit by the Bees and failed to draw a walk, but grabbed the game’s lone run in the fourth inning. Joey Wendle led off the frame with one of his two doubles on the night and moved to third on a Nate Freiman single. With one away, Jason Pridie grounded one to first and used his speed to beat out the double play attempt. The RBI groundout was the outfielder’s 32nd this season.

Brock Huntzinger had a scoreless streak of his own and bolstered it to 12.1 innings with a scoreless eighth. The reliever put two away quickly but eventually left runners at the corners to conclude the frame. R.J. Alvarez entered in the ninth and got his fourth save. The right-hander has pitched eight innings during the ninth frame and has not yielded a run during that time. Nashville’s bullpen lowered their ERA to 0.32 (1er/28.1ip) over the last nine games.

The standing-room only, capacity crowd was the largest in First Tennessee Park history, eclipsing last night’s previous high of 10,610. The sellout was the 6th in the park’s history and represented the second back-to-back sellout Nashville has had this season. The last six sellouts at Greer Stadium encompassed 491 games from May 5, 2008 to August 27, 2014.

Nashville hits the road Saturday for a nine-day, eight-game road trip to New Orleans and Oklahoma City. The Sounds open the series against the Zephyrs on Saturday at 6:00 p.m. Right-hander Zach Neal (4-0, 1.40) will face off with Robert Morey.

Kandi Gilley Shemwell(in white) is triple teamed in the post by Lady Raider Lindsey Perry(left), Brooke Freeze(back) and Holli Smithson(right) during Friday’ Lady Raider Alumni Game

Older is better…..especially if you use Friday night’s Lady Raider basketball game as as example as the Lady Raider alumni beat the Lady Raider varsity 55 to 34 at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym.  The alumni ladies outscored the varsity squad 20 to 3 in the second quarter to take a 36 to 16 lead into the half and the varsity could never get closer than 15 points in the second half.  While the game featured alumni such as Katie Reid and Cameron Davis who had played with some of this year’s team in the recent past; it was a pair of match-ups that stole the show.  The first was the Morgan sisters; alumnus Emily Morgan Townsend and younger sister Bailey Morgan.  Each led their respective team in scoring as Townsend scored 19 first half points and finished the game with a game high 21 points.  Rising junior Bailey Morgan led the Lady Raiders on the night with 10 points, including 8 in the 2nd half.  The second match up was former Lady Raider assistant coach Kandi Gilley Shemwell against the players she coached the last 2 years.  Shemwell finished with 3 points on the night and was the recipient of many more fouls, hard screens and smack talk from her former players.  Admission was free for the evening, but donations were accepted for the program.

Post game picture from Friday’s Alumni Game of the victorious Lady Raider Alumni team(in white) and the Lady Raider varsity team(in black)

The Sounds saw Salt Lake strike for a pair of late runs and dropped Thursday night’s contest in front of a record-setting 10,610 fans at First Tennessee Park, 4-2.

Nashville ended the night 2-for-15 with runners in scoring position and failed to capitalize on three Salt Lake errors. The bullpen’s streak of 19.2 innings without allowing a run came to an end, as the Bees added two runs late in the game to steal the third game of the series.

Salt Lake jumped on top and claimed a 2-0 lead with a run in both the second and third innings. Roger Keischnick slammed a home run off starter Ryan Verdugo and Daniel Robertson hit a run-scoring double in the third.

Despite surrendering the early lead, Nashville responded in their half of the third to tie it up. After Matt Carson reached on an error, Craig Gentry singled to center to put runners at the corners. Joey Wendle followed it with an RBI groundout and Ryan Roberts proceeded with a bloop single that barely tipped off the glove of the shortstop to plate the second run.

The Bees regained the lead in the seventh though, and tacked on another in the eighth. Alex Yarbrough started the frame with a single and came around to score later in the seventh. The lead grew in the eighth when Keischnick scored another run after reaching on a single. The two-run cushion proved to be enough for Salt Lake, who improved to 25-29.

After going eight games and 19.2 innings without giving up a run, Nashville’s relief corps saw two runs score on their watch. Arnold Leon, who was added to the roster from Oakland earlier on Thursday, threw 2.1 innings with just one hit and three strikeouts. Salt Lake grabbed a tally off Jim Fuller (2.1 IP, 4 H, K) and an unearned run off Ryan Cook (1.0 IP, H, BB).

The two teams play the final game tomorrow night at First Tennessee Park where the first 2,000 fans will be given jersey drawstring bags. Fresh off a PCL Pitcher of the Week Award, Barry Zito takes the mound for Nashville. He will be opposed by Adam Wilk. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.