JACKSONVILLE (Florida Sports Wire) – C.J. Hinojosa’s homer in the fourth inning was the highlight of the evening for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp as they otherwise had a seemingly quiet night at the plate in their 5-2 loss to the Durham Bulls Wednesday night at 121 Financial Ballpark
Durham (2-3) broke the 1-1 deadlock in the top of the sixth inning when Nick Dini (1) launched a solo home run off Jacksonville (2-3) starter Luis Palacios (0-1) to put the Bulls on top 2-1. Two batters later, Mead doubled and scored on a base knock from Jonathan Aranda, increasing the lead to 3-1.
Durham added to their lead in the top of the seventh. With one out, Kameron Misner walked and went to third on a double from Niko Hulsizer. Dini followed with a sac-fly pushing the lead to 4-1.
Things got dicey in the eighth as Durham loaded the bases with back-to-back walks and a hit batsman. In the face of disaster, Jacksonville reliever George Soriano managed to punch out the next two batters and Anthony Maldonado wrapped up the inning with a third consecutive strikeout to keep the deficit manageable.
Jacksonville answered with a threat of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Santiago Chavez led off with a single to center, then Xavier Edwards grounded into a force out. Edwards advanced to second on a wild pitch from Bulls’ reliever Hector Perez. Hinojosa sliced a single to right field putting runners on the corners with one out. A Jordan Groshans single brought in Edwards from third, cutting into the Durham lead, 4-2.
Just as Jacksonville looked to mount a late-game comeback, Basabe hit a solo shot to take a 5-2 advantage in the ninth.
Neptune Beach native, Ben Gamel sparked the scoring with a solo home run in the top of the second.
After three scoreless innings, the Jacksonville offense responded courtesy of a Hinojosa (1) solo shot.
