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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Birmingham Barons erupted for a six-run eighth inning to break a tie and claim an 11-5 win over the Montgomery Biscuits Saturday night. While it was just the first win of the series for Birmingham (63-55, 23-25), it snapped a co-season-high four-game losing skid for the team, which included the first three games of this series.

With the game tied at 5-5 in the eighth frame, Brandon Allen coaxed a leadoff walk against Montgomery reliever Roger Deago (2-5). After a flyout, Ricardo Nanita also reached on a base-on-balls, and a C.J. Lang single plated Allen for the 6-5 Birmingham lead.

Colter Bean entered to relieve Deago and promptly served up a two-run single to Robert Valido to make it an 8-5 game. Erick San Pedro followed with an opposite-field single to right, and Miguel Negron brought in Valido on a bunt base hit. Two batters later, Javier Castillo capped the scoring with a two-run triple that made it an 11-5 Barons advantage.

Early on, it appeared that Birmingham would be able to cruise to the win. Negron ripped a two-run triple in the third off Montgomery starter Jino Gonzalez to open the scoring, and he later came around on a Victor Mercedes single that gave the home squad a 3-0 lead.

Spotted to the early advantage, Barons starter Justin Cassel tossed three blank frames to open the contest. He ran into trouble in the fourth, though, allowing the Biscuits (63-55, 29-19) to score four times and take the lead on four hits, a walk, and an error.

Trailing 4-3, Birmingham would respond in the fifth. Negron opened the inning with a walk, stole second, and scored on a two-out single by Allen that tied the game. Lee Cruz followed with a go-ahead RBI triple that put the Barons on top by a 5-4 score.

Cassel could not hold the lead, however, and served up a game-tying solo homer to Matt Spring in the sixth, his seventh long ball of the season. The right-handed hurler was lifted after allowing a single two batters later and was touched for five runs (three earned) off of nine hits in 5.2 innings on the mound. He walked a pair and struck out six Biscuit batters.

His counterpart Gonzalez equally struggled, coughing up five runs on seven hits and four walks. He struck out three in five innings of work in the no-decision. Eddie Morlan followed him with two scoreless relief innings before the late Birmingham rally.

Kanekoa Texeira (1-2) earned his first Double-A win with a pair of scoreless innings to close the contest for Birmingham. He allowed a hit and a walk while fanning three batters. Fernando Hernandez tossed 1.1 blank frames to extend his scoreless streak to 5.1 innings out of the bullpen.

Valido, Lang, Castillo, and Negron each recorded two hits for the Barons which, despite the win, have still tallied just two wins in their last eight contests. Negron scored three runs and plated a team-high three as well, and Castillo and Valido each drove in a pair of RBI. Eight starters posted a hit, seven scored a run, and seven collected an RBI.

Matt Spring's 3-for-3 game led the way for Montgomery, and Erold Andrus added a 2-for-5 performance. Johnny Raburn drove in two runs in the contest.

The five-game series, and Birmingham's season-long ten-game homestand, will conclude Sunday with a 5:05 first pitch. Right-hander Lucas Harrell (2-2) is expected to get the nod for the home team, while southpaw Mike Prochaska (4-3) is slated to toe the slab for the visiting Biscuits.

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