Wahoos Fall In 10 To Mississippi
May 17, 2016
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos had yet another chance to take back first place from the Biloxi Shuckers in the Southern League South Division.
However, Pensacola came up short as Mississippi Braves shortstop Dansby Swanson showed why he was the first overall pick in 2015, smashing a ball over the left field wall for the game winner, 4-3, at Blue Wahoos Stadium. Biloxi had lost, too, 1-0, to the Chattanooga Lookouts in 10 innings.
It was the third consecutive game between these two teams, so far, during this series decided by one run and second time they went into extra innings. Mississippi leads the five-game series, 2-1.
Pensacola dropped to 22-16, while Biloxi is 22-15.
The Blue Wahoos had runners on base in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings but could not capitalize. In the 10th inning, Swanson hit his solo shot, who went 2-4 with three runs scored Monday. Against Pensacola, he is now 5-12 or .417 with a homer, double, two walks, four runs scored and two RBIs.
Pat Kelly gave credit to Swanson who helped Vanderbilt win the College World Series title in 2014 and to runner-up in 2015.
“He’s a good player,” Kelly said matter-of-factly. “He’s definitely one of better players on the field.”
Pensacola kept the ball game close. Nick Routt threw 3.1 scoreless innings to increase his scoreless inning streak to 17.2—which is the longest this season for the team. Routt had three strikeouts and now has 20 in 22.1 innings.
Meanwhile, Alejandro Chacin threw a wild pitch with runners on first and third that allowed Swanson to score from third and tie the score, 3-3. Chacin, who hadn’t allowed a run to score all year, had his scoreless inning streak ended at 15 innings pitched.
Kelly said Routt has been “impressive” and is hard to hit because of his “spin rate” on his fastball that he keeps up with.
“He’s very intellectual guy,” said Kelly. “Nick (Routt) really tracks it and is aware of it. Hitters just don’t have a good swing at it.”
Mostly Kelly was upset with a call in the sixth inning when it appeared Pensacola shortstop Calten Daal beat out a slow roller to Mississippi first baseman Jordy Lara. It was a close play that would have extended Daal’s hitting streak to 15 games, the longest in the Southern League this season. It also would have scored right fielder Phillip Ervin with the winning run by giving the Blue Wahoos four for the game.
Instead the game went in to extra innings for the second time this series tied, 3-3.
Mississippi pitcher Sean Newcomb, the No. 2 pitcher in the Atlanta Braves organization and 20th best prospect in the Major Leagues, bounced back from his last start when he gave up five runs on six hits and two walks in six innings to the Mobile BayBears, who won 5-3.
The Mississippi southpaw gave up two hits and three walks to Pensacola allowing three runs, one earned, and struck out seven Blue Wahoos.
Pensacola right fielder Phillip Ervin led the Blue Wahoos offense going 1-3 with a double, two RBIs and his 14th stolen base of the season. He smacked a stand up double when he lined the ball down the left field line that drove in Pensacola second baseman Alex Blandino to put Pensacola on top, 3-2, in the sixth inning. Ervin also scored left fielder Tony Renda from third on a sacrifice fly to the warning track in the fourth inning, that pulled Pensacola within, 2-1, against Mississippi.
Wahoos Fall To Mississippi
May 16, 2016
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos came close to matching the heroics of Saturday’s walk-off win but left the tying run at third base as the Mississippi Braves held on for a 4-3 victory Sunday afternoon.
Jeff Gelalich walked to lead off the ninth inning and advanced to third on a pair of infield outs. But Stephen Janas coaxed a first-pitch swing from Tony Renda to end the game.
“We gave ourselves a chance,” Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said. “We got the tying run on base and winning run at the plate. He was only 90 feet away.”
Chris Ellis earned his Southern League-best sixth win for Mississippi before turning the game over to Janas, who held the Wahoos to one hit in their last three innings. Ellis helped his own cause with three of Mississippi’s eight hits, including an RBI double to open scoring in the third inning. He later scored on a single, the first of two hits for the Braves’ top prospect Dansby Swanson.
The Blue Wahoos led off the fourth inning with two walks before Gelalich’s RBI single, the first of his Double-A career, tied the game. Alex Blandino gave Pensacola a 3-2 advantage on his third home run in 10 games, but the lead was short-lived.
Swanson’s leadoff double to left field started a bases-loaded rally that forced Jackson Stephens out of the game. Former Pensacola catcher Matt Kennelly got a run home on a double play before Matt Lipka hit the eventual game-winner, an RBI single up the middle.
With Biloxi’s 2-1 loss to Chattanooga, the Wahoos remain a half-game out of first place in the Southern League South Division.
Wahoos Walk Off With Win
May 15, 2016
Bottom of the ninth inning, two outs and the bases loaded. It’s a situation every hitter has visualized at least a hundred times: the roar of the crowd, the crack of the bat and the thrill of victory.
The dream became a reality for Chad Wallach, who knocked a bases-clearing double to tie the game in the ninth before Pensacola walked off with a 5-4 win in extra innings.
Wahoos manager Pat Kelly turned to Wallach, his final position player available off the bench, to face the hard-throwing Mississippi Braves closer Mauricio Cabrera. Wallach wasted no time, sending the first pitch into the gap in right center field to erase a three-run deficit.
“When you’re in that situation and you’re trying to get a base hit for the team, you’re just going up there looking for one pitch,” Wallach said. “If the guy throws hard, you’re just trying to be on time. He threw it in a spot where I could hit it and I put a good swing on it.”
Pensacola took advantage of a leadoff walk in the 10th to set the scene for Blandino, whose single bounced past a drawn-in outfield. The team spilled onto the field in celebration and met Blandino behind second base with a baby powder shower.
“Water and baby powder, it’s kind of a disastrous mix,” Blandino joked. “But it’s always exciting when you can help your team walk off, especially the way we came back there, fighting and clawing our way back.”
Saturday’s game in front of a sellout crowd of 5,038 looked like a pitcher’s duel from the start as Sal Romano and Andrew Thurman combined for 16 strikeouts. Romano turned in the longest start of his Wahoos career, allowing two runs, one earned, in seven innings with a walk and seven strikeouts.
Romano worked around a two-run fifth inning, allowing a solo home run to Johan Camargo and falling victim to a pair of two-out errors. But the Pensacola starter finished on a strong note, retiring the last seven batters he faced.
“I thought the sixth inning was his best inning,” Kelly said. “He’s one of those guys that gets stronger as he goes on.”
Pensacola got a run back in the home half of the sixth as Joe Hudson doubled and scored on Bryson Smith’s sacrifice fly. But with a pair of insurance runs against El’Hajj Muhammad, Mississippi seemed to have enough insurance to stifle a Wahoos’ rally.
The Pensacola lineup wore down the closer Cabrera and spoiled a strong start from Thurman, who struck out a career-high nine batters. Wallach’s pinch-hit double was the team’s first hit in three innings, and Blandino’s single, just the fifth of the night for Pensacola, was the last one the Wahoos would need.
The Wahoos improved to 22-14 and picked up a half-game on first place in the Southern League South Division with Biloxi’s loss.
Blue Wahoos Drop Finale To Lookouts
May 14, 2016
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos (21-14) dropped the final game of the series against Chattanooga (15-20), 2-1, Friday night at AT&T Field despite Calten Daal extending his hit-streak to 12 games.
Daal, who played shortstop, was 2-3 on the night and is hitting .442 this season since returning from the disabled list.
Chattanooga scored first in the bottom of the first after a double by Daniel Palka to score Shannon Wilkerson.
Pensacola evened the game in the third when Tony Renda hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Eric Jagielo.
The Lookouts secured the win in the bottom of the sixth after D.J. Hicks scored on a force out by T.J. White.
LHP Amir Garrett, the Reds No. 4 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, went six innings giving up nine hits, two runs, both earned, while walking one and striking out three. After Friday, Garrett is now 3-3 with a 1.51 ERA.
The Pensacola bullpen shutdown the Lookouts the final two innings of the game. Nick Rout allowed one hit and posted two strikeouts in the seventh. Jimmy Moran, who made his first appearance of the season, struck out this side in the eighth.
Wahoos Win 5th Series Of The Season
May 13, 2016
Pensacola Blue Wahoos first baseman Donald Lutz took out some of his frustrations at the plate against Chattanooga this series at AT&T Field.
Lutz went 2-4 and drove in three runs and stole a base, as Pensacola clinched the five-game series with a 5-4, victory Thursday that was delayed by rain an hour and 20 minutes in the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Blue Wahoos clinched the series to move to 5-2 this season. However, the Blue Wahoos are still chasing the Biloxi Shuckers, who over took them April 19. The Shuckers came from behind to beat the Jacksonville Suns, 8-6, Thursday and now are 21-12. Meanwhile, Pensacola improved to 21-13, a half-game behind the Shuckers.
In two games against Chattanooga this series, Lutz has feasted on the Lookouts pitchers going 4-8 with two doubles and raising his average to a season-high .200. Lutz, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, has one homer and 11 runs batted in this season and it was his second three RBI game of the year.
He drove in the go-ahead runs in the fifth inning when he singled up the middle to score second baseman Zach Vincej and third baseman Alex Blandino, which put Pensacola on top, 4-1.
Chattanooga scored two in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it a 4-3 game. The No. 8 hitter Stuart Turner and the No. 9 hitter Shannon Wilkerson hit back-to-back solo shots to left field off of Pensacola starter Nick Travieso.
Pensacola added a run in the top of the sixth inning when Vincej hit a soft grounder to shortstop to score Blue Wahoos catcher Chad Wallach for a 5-3 lead.
Chattanooga went up, 1-0, in the first when Ryan Walker singled to center field to score Zach Granite.
The Blue Wahoos then came back to take the lead, 2-1, by scoring in the second and third innings. In the second, Wallach grounded into a double play that scored Pensacola right fielder Brandon Dixon. In the third inning, Lutz hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Vincej.
Pensacola starting pitcher Travieso, the Cincinnati Reds No. 7 prospect according to Baseball America, allowed three earned runs on five hits and three walks in 5.1 innings, while striking out five. In his longest outing of the season, he improved to 2-2 with a 5.96 ERA.
Bottom of the sixth inning Travieso struck out second baseman Levi Michael and then walked D.J. Hicks. As he was being replaced by Pensacola reliever Barrett Astin, it started to rain at about 8:30 p.m. and the game was finally resumed at 9:50 p.m. Thursday.
Pensacola shortstop Calten Daal went 1-4 to push his hitting streak to 11 games. He is hitting .425 (17-40) in 11 games.
In addition, Tony Renda, who batted leadoff and played left field, was 1-5 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. His batting average is now .317 on the season.
Flomaton’s Andrew Cash Inks Baseball Scholarship With South Alabama
May 12, 2016
Flomaton High School senior Andrew Cash signed baseball scholarship with the University of South Alabama on Wednesday. He was a six year starter for the Flomaton High School baseball team. He played middle infield, center field, and pitcher during his time at Flomaton. He will likely play center fielder at USA.
He was also a four-year starter for Flomaton’s football team, beginning his career as a wide receiver/running back as a freshman, sophomore, and junior, and finishing his career as a quarterback as a senior, leading the canes to quarterfinal berth.
Pictured top: (standing, L-R) Athletic Director Scott Robinson, Head Baseball Coach Wes Sessions, brother Alex Cash, mother Debbie Cash, father Robert Cash, and Head Football Coach Doug Vickery, and (seated) Andrew Cash. Cash is pictured below with brother Alex, mother Debbie and father Robert. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Top High School Seniors Recognized At Senior Scholar Banquet
May 11, 2016
The top 213 senior student athletes from Escambia and Santa Rosa counties took part in a dinner and scholarship recognition program Tuesday night at Olive Baptist Church.
Tori Bindi from Gulf Breeze High and Nathan Andreo from Pace won the overall girls and male scholarships. The Pensacola Sports Foundation awarded these two individuals each with a $4,000 scholarship. Other awardees were Callan Taylor from Navarre (University of West Florida Scholarship), Kaci VanVoorhis from Pace and Cortavis Watts from Washington (Gary McAdams Memorial Scholarship), Trace Penton from Tate and Eliza Eligio from Pensacola High (Whataburger Scholarship), Chloe Dawson from Milton (Dr. Alec Kessler Memorial Scholarship), and Jerry Pollard, Pine Forest football coach and athletic director, won the RADM Kenneth L Shugart Jr. Award for his service and dedication to the community, sports, and youth.
Additionally, Pensacola State College awarded each individual sport winner with a scholarship. Newly added this year are scholarships awarded for both men’s and women’s lacrosse.
The individual sport winners are:
- Baseball — Evan Floyd, Pensacola Catholic
- Girls Basketball — Faithe Franklin, West Florida
- Boys Basketball — Bradley Proctor, Gulf Breeze
- Cheerleading — Brooke Vincent, Tate
- Boys Cross Country — Mitchell Brooks, West Florida
- Girls Cross Country — Jennifer Sublett, West Florida
- Football — Michael Sandle, Navarre
- Girls Golf — Abigail Herrmann, Pensacola Catholic
- Boys Golf — Michael Mann, Pensacola Catholic
- Boys Lacrosse — Hayden Broussard, Pensacola Catholic
- Girls Lacrosse — Brianna Sekul, Gulf Breeze
- Boys Soccer — Eric Masterson, Pensacola Catholic
- Girls Soccer — Gabrielle Dosev, Pensacola Catholic
- Softball — Callan Taylor, Navarre
- Boys Swimming — Michael Johnson, Pensacola High
- Girls Swimming — Peyton Parra, Washington
- Boys Tennis — Daniell Sullivan, Pensacola Catholic
- Girls Tennis — Emily Dawson, Washington
- Boys Track — Javen Jackson, West Florida Tech
- Girls Track — Lynn Arthur, West Florida Tech
- Volleyball — Kiley Brady, Pensacola Catholic
- Boys Weightlifting — Adrian Acevedo, Pace
- Girls Weightlifting — Olivia Brahms, Navarre
- Wrestling — Travis Thompson, Pace
The schools nominate their senior athletes for each sport and submit the paperwork to Pensacola Sports. A selection committee made of educators, community leaders, and Pensacola Sports board members reviews the anonymous applications and select the best person’s credentials for each sport. Those are the individual sport winners. Then they select the overall male and female winners from the individual sport winners.
Pictured top: Brooke Vincent of Tate High School, Pensacola Sports cheerleading award winner. Pictured below: TV personality Dan Shugart presents the award named for his father, the RADM Kenneth L Shugart Jr. Award, to Jerry Pollard, Pine Forest football coach and athletic director. Pictured: Northview athletes Moriah McGahan, Bethany Reynolds, Coach Natalie Nall, Haylee Weaver and Savanna Roux at Tuesday night’s Pensacola Sports banquet at Olive Baptist Church. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.
Tate’s State Championship Hopes Ended By Creekside
May 11, 2016
The Tate Aggies had their hopes a state championship dashed Tuesday night as they were eliminated from the playoffs after a 6-2 loss to St. John’s Creekside
Creekside took an early lead with a single in the bottom of the first. The Aggies answered with a run in the top of the third, but Creekside followed with a run of their own in the inning. Both teams added a run in the firth, and Creekside surged in the bottom of the sixth inning with three runs.
For Tate, Reid Halfacre was 0-2 with a run, Trace Penton was 1-4, Brandon Fryman went 2-3, Cole Halfacre 2-4 with a RBI, Mason Land 1-4 with a RBI, Logan Blackmon and Hunter NeSmith were both 0-3, Logan McGuffey was 1-3 and Josh Kea went 1-3 with a run.
Penton was charged with the loss. He pitched 1.2 innings, walked three. struck out none and allowed three runs.
The Tate Aggies finished their season as regional runner-up with a 25-5 record.
Blue Wahoos Drop Game One To Lookouts
May 10, 2016
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos woes on the road continued Monday against the Chattanooga Lookouts who got 17 hits to roll to a, 12-3, victory at AT&T Field.
Pensacola fell to 7-9 on the road, while they are 11-4 at home. The Blue Wahoos are now 18-13 and in second place in the Southern League South Division. Meanwhile, Chattanooga improved to 14-17.
Chattanooga jumped on Pensacola starter Sal Romano in the third inning, scoring five runs and sending nine men to the plate. Romano, the No. 15 prospect in the Cincinnati Reds organization according to MLB.com, was rolling until then striking out three Lookout batters and allowing just one hit.
In all, Chattanooga scored seven runs on nine hits off of Romano in three innings. Romano fell to 1-2 with a 5.23 earned-run average.
D.J. Baxendale, a tenth round Minnesota Twins selection in 2012, threw seven innings, giving up three earned runs on five hits and three walks. Baxendale, who has played parts of four seasons in Double-A, improved to 2-4 with a 3.07 ERA.
Pensacola scored first when right fielder Brandon Dixon hit a sacrifice fly to center field that scored first baseman Kyle Parker in the second inning to put the Blue Wahoos on top, 1-0.
However, in the bottom of the third inning, Chattanooga got a double and four singles to go ahead, 5-1.
The Lookouts DH Travis Harrison singled to right field to score third baseman T.J. White, 1-0. First baseman D.J. Hicks then hit a liner to center field to drive in second baseman Ryan Walker and center fielder Shannon Wilkerson for a 3-1 lead. Chattanooga catcher Mitch Garver then drove in two more on a double to center field that scored Harrison and Hicks to go ahead 5-1.
Chattanooga scored two more off Romano in the fourth to take a 7-1 lead over Pensacola. Walker tripled to right field to drive in White and then Wilkerson singled to right to score Walker.
Pensacola did get two more runs back in the top of the sixth inning when Parker hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score left fielder Tony Renda and then second baseman Alex Blandino scored on a wild pitch by Chattanooga starter Baxendale to make the score, 7-3.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Chattanooga’s Walker singled in Hicks and Garver. Wilkerson then singled up the middle to score White to put the Lookouts on top, 10-3.
Garver, who went 3-5 with two runs scored and four RBIs, completed Chattanooga’s scoring on a two-run smash to left center in the eighth inning for a 12-3 Lookout win.
Pensacola shortstop Calten Daal extended his hitting streak to nine games, going 1-2 with two walks. He is hitting .469.
Tony Renda went 1-4 and scored a run and extended his hitting streak to eight games. He’s hitting .305 for the Blue Wahoos this season.
Wahoos Gain Ground On First Place Biloxi
May 9, 2016
Kyle Parker found himself without a team when the Colorado Rockies released him on April 2. They didn’t want their first pick in the 2010 draft anymore.
But the Cincinnati Reds signed him April 25 and sent him to its Double-A affiliate the Pensacola Blue Wahoos.
In his second start, Parker hit two two-out singles to drive in a run each time and help his new team beat Biloxi, 5-0, in front of 4,414 Sunday at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Parker, a first round draft pick in 2010 who has 64 games of big league experience in the last two years, said he was taken off guard by getting released.
“It caught me by surprise,” said Parker, who played quarterback for Clemson. “I knew somebody would give me a chance. I still have confidence in my abilities.”
Parker. playing right field. got his first hit, first RBI, first extra-base hit and first run scored on Sunday. He went 3-4 against Biloxi, after starting off the season 0-4.
Manager Pat Kelly likes Parker’s flexibility to play in the outfield and at first base. He knew of Parker because his son played with him in football camps.
“What a great addition,” Kelly said of Parker. “He’s a great athlete. He gives us another right-handed hitter in the middle of the line up, so we don’t have to bat (Phillip) Ervin fourth, we can move him up.”
The Blue Wahoos gained three games on Biloxi by winning the five game series, 4-1. The two teams that are vying for first place in the Southern League South are now 5-5 against each other this season. Pensacola is 18-12, while Biloxi is 18-11.
“It’s May we’re not competing in a pennant race yet,” Kelly said. “We’re going out to win every series. We wanted to gain ground on them and we’ve done that.”
Pensacola also got another good outing from southpaw prospect Amir Garrett, who pitched his third scoreless game in six starts. Garrett didn’t have his best stuff but worked six scoreless innings, giving up four hits, five walks and striking out six. The 6-foot-5 lefty is now 3-2 with a 1.26 earned-run average.
He also got help from the Pensacola relievers Matt Magill and Alejandro Chacin, who blanked Biloxi over the final three innings to help the Blue Wahoos record its third shutout of the season. Chacin earned his team-leading fifth save and has yet to allow a run in 11 appearances and 13 innings pitched.
The Pensacola pitching staff leads the Southern League with a 2.69 ERA, which is more than a half run better than the Mississippi Braves at 3.21.
Parker drove in his first two-out run when he hit a soft blooper to right field on a hit-and-run play that scored Pensacola left fielder Phillip Ervin in the first inning for a 1-0 Pensacola lead. Parker got his second two-out RBI when he hit a hard liner to left field that scored Blue Wahoos center fielder Beau Amaral that put Pensacola up, 4-0.
In the third inning, Pensacola second baseman Brandon Dixon clobbered a two-out, two-run homer to left that made it into the Pensacola Bay. His blast brought home Ervin and gave the Blue Wahoos a, 3-0 lead.
It was the Blue Wahoos sixth homer in its last eight games. Pensacola has smashed 13 homers since April 21.
Ervin, who scored two runs Sunday and singled in four at bats is now second in the Southern League in runs scored with 22, which is two behind the leader. Ervin has crossed the plate 13 times in his last 10 games.