Brian Peterson is now a fifth-year senior at AT&T Field.

Peterson was a Chattanooga Lookouts catcher from 2002 to '05, earning Southern League all-star laurels in '04. He returned to his old stomping grounds Monday night with the Carolina Mudcats and made the most of it, driving in three runs to lead Carolina to an entertaining 7-6 win.

"It felt weird, and it's really different seeing the blue jerseys and not those of the Reds," Peterson said after his 662nd minor league game. "I never thought I would play here again, but it's always good to come back and see friendly faces."

Carolina pulled into a 5-5 tie in the fifth inning when Mike Griffin led off with a home run to left. Juan Francisco and Todd Frazier followed with hits, ending the night for Lookouts starting pitcher Jesus Castillo, but it appeared they would be stranded until Peterson ripped a two-out liner up the middle off reliever Francisco Felix.

The 30-year-old Peterson, who joined Carolina on Sunday from Triple-A Louisville, nearly had his heroics ruined by three separate Lookouts charges.

Chattanooga trailed 7-5 in the seventh inning and had runners on second and third with one out but came away empty. The Lookouts had the bases loaded with nobody out in the eighth and got a lone run courtesy of a wild pitch by Logan Ondrusek.

Ramon Nivar opened the ninth for Chattanooga with a ground-rule double to right but was thrown out at the plate on Josh Bell's ensuing single to left. Bell went to second on the throw and got to third on another Ondrusek wild pitch, but he was called out trying to advance by plate umpire Quinn Wolcott.

Ondrusek's ball four to Mike Rose got away from Peterson and trickled up the line, opening an opportunity for Bell, but Peterson flipped back to his 6-foot-8 reliever in time.

"Being the home team and a play being that close, for him to call me out is unbelievable," Bell said.

Carolina won for just the second time in eight second-half games, while the Lookouts fell to 3-5. The Lookouts have yet to reach .500 at any point of either half.

An impressive crowd of 4,432 enjoyed the low humidity, and so did the hitters. The Mudcats pounced on Castillo for seven runs on 10 hits in four innings, and the Lookouts scored five runs on 10 hits in four innings off Carolina starter Camilo Vazquez.

"Both guys were working from behind in the count and were elevating some pitches," Lookouts pitching coach Glenn Dishman said. "I know we made some mistakes and paid for them. The biggest pitch of the night was when Felix had battled back in helping out Castillo and made one bad pitch. If he had located that one better, we'd be celebrating right now."

Nivar hit a two-run homer off the scoreboard in the left during the first inning and had an RBI double to left in the second to help Chattanooga build a 4-2 lead. The Mudcats tied it in the third, however, on RBI doubles by Juan Francisco and Logan Parker.

The Lookouts went back up 5-4 in the fourth on James Tomlin's bloop single to right-center that scored Justin Sellers from second.

Before Monday's game, the Lookouts made several roster moves. Right-handed pitcher Tim Corcoran came off the disabled list, righty reliever Paul Koss went on the DL and second baseman Victor Mercedes was released after hitting .148 in 36 games.

Alberto Bastardo (0-1, 16.87 ERA) is scheduled to start tonight's 7:15 game for the Lookouts, with Tom Cochran (1-0, 3.00) scheduled for the Mudcats.