An eighth inning rally by the Rocket City Trash Pandas led to a 5-2 victory over the Chattanooga Lookouts Tuesday night at AT&T Field. This was the first contest in a six-game series against the Lookouts.

Stuck in a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning, the Trash Pandas rallied for three runs to take the lead and ultimately secure the win. Mitch Nay opened the inning with a free pass to first base. Izzy Wilson followed that up by reaching on a fielder’s choice error. Ibandel Isabel walked to load the bases with no outs.

Ray-Patrick Didder was at the plate when Chattanooga’s Alexis Diaz threw a wild pitch, allowing Nay to cross home plate and take the lead of 3-2. Diaz then walked Didder to once again load the bases for the Trash Pandas. Diaz continued his erratic outing as a passed ball got by Lookouts catcher Mark Kolozsvary to allow Wilson to score to give the Trash Pandas a 4-2 lead.

Diaz walked his fourth batter of the inning, Dalton Pompey, with the bases loaded to bring home Rocket City’s third run of the inning. The Trash Pandas scored all three runs without getting a hit.

Cooper Criswell started on the mound for the Trash Pandas, and after taking the lead in the eighth, he came back out for the eighth and ninth innings to close out the victory. This was Criswell’s first complete game of his career. It also was the first nine-inning complete game in Trash Pandas history.

Criswell gave up just two runs on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts to earn his fourth win of the season. Rocket City starting pitcher Kyle Tyler pitched a complete seven-inning game Sunday in the second game of the doubleheader.

Rocket City’s Gavvin Cecchini led off the sixth with a walk. Two batters later, Orlando Martinez hit a two-run home run over the wall in right, his ninth of the season, to tie the game at 2-2. Criswell managed to keep the Lookout hitters at bay to keep the score tied for the next couple innings before Rocket City’s late rally.

Martinez and Wilson both went 2-for-5, while eight of nine batters in the starting lineup reached base.