Chattanooga Lookouts claim first Southern League championship since 1988

The Chattanooga Lookouts on Monday claimed the Southern League title with a 4-0 win over the Biloxi Shuckers.

Lookouts pitchers D.J. Baxendale and Jason Wheeler combined for five-hit shutout. The victory sealed Chattanooga’s first Southern League championship since 1988.

“All these guys believed that no matter who we get we were going to win,” the Chattanooga Times Free Press quoted Lookouts Manager Doug Mientkiewicz as saying. “They believed it. They deserve all the credit, and they kept grinding.”

Chattanooga scored its first run on a Stuart Turner double in the bottom of the second inning that scored Heiker Meneses; Turner scored on a Shannon Wilkerson single. An inning later, Max Kepler belted his third home run of the series to increase the lead to 3-0.

Biloxi and Chattanooga split the first two games in Biloxi, and the Shuckers took the first game once the series shifted to Chattanooga to claim a 2-1 series lead. But, Chattanooga buckled down to win the final two games of the best-of-five series by an 8-2 combined margin.

The Lookouts are the AA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.