Winkler Homers, Wahoos Lose To Biloxi
August 13, 2015
Jesse Winker hit his second solo home run in two games but it lead off the ninth inning and the Pensacola Blue Wahoos dropped the opener of its five-game series, 4-1, with the Biloxi Shuckers.
It was the first time the Blue Wahoos played in the Shuckers new MGM Park in downtown Biloxi near the Gulf of Mexico and Beau Rivage Casino.
Pensacola entered the game in first place in the second half but the loss dropped them to 26-20 in and one game behind the Mississippi Braves in the South Division of the Southern League. Biloxi, the first half winner, improved to 22-23 and is in fourth place in the second half.
The game was a far cry from the Blue Wahoos offensive explosion Tuesday against the Birmingham Barons when it scored 13 runs on a season-high 19 hits.
Wednesday night, Pensacola managed just one run on five hits. Winker, the Cincinnati Reds top prospect according to MLB Pipeline, was the only hitter to manage two hits, going 2-4 and reaching 40 RBIs on his solo blast to left field. He now hitting .303 in the second half with seven home runs and 23 RBIs.
Biloxi pitcher Jorge Lopez, the Milwaukee Brewers No. 9 prospect according to MLB Pipeline, pitched eight scoreless innings, allowing four hits, two walks and striking out eight. He improved to 11-5 with a 2.45 ERA on the year.
Center fielder Brett Phillips knocked in Biloxi’s first run in the second inning with a two-out double that scored catcher Adam Weisenburger for a 1-0 lead.
Biloxi added two more in the third when first baseman Nick Ramirez doubled in second baseman Nathan Orf and Weisenburger singled in Ramirez to go ahead, 3-0.
Biloxi scored its last run in the fourth inning when left fielder Victor Roache singled in Phillips to go up, 4-0.
Wahoos Win, Move Into Tie For First Place
August 12, 2015
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos exploded offensively — like a bull bursting out of the chute at the buzzer — with Jesse Winker, Bryson Smith and Juan Duran hitting long home runs to left field right out of the gate to put the club up 8-0 after the first two innings.
The Birmingham Barons tried to hang on but Pensacola won 13-10 and the Blue Wahoos captured its sixth series of the second half in front of 4,012 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said in his 40-plus years of managing, Tuesday’s game was one of the “craziest.”
“It was one of the craziest ones I’ve been a member of in quite a while,” Kelly said. “We scored so early we tried to keep emphasizing to our team to keep scoring.”
Pensacola’s offensive explosion included its first multi-homer inning this season when Bryson Smith and Duran both hit dingers in the second inning. Smith crushed a three-run homer and Duran smacked a mammoth, two-out homer over the lights in deep left field to put Pensacola up, 8-0.
Blue Wahoos left fielder Jesse Winker, the Cincinnati Reds top prospect according to MLB Pipeline, started a two-out, three-run rally in the first inning with an opposite field, solo home run that put the Blue Wahoos up 1-0. Pensacola tied its season-high of three home runs in a game.
Marquez Smith then smashed a grounder to Birmingham third baseman Tony Thomas who threw it wide of first, allowing Smith to reach second. Blue Wahoos right fielder Juan Duran’s sharp grounder to diving Barons’ shortstop Tim Anderson drove in Smith, who got a big jump on the hit and beat the throw to home plate to make the score, 2-0.
Pensacola added a third run when Duran scored on third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean’s double on a line drive that fell between the center fielder and right fielder.
By the time Birmingham stopped Pensacola’s breakout at the plate in the fifth inning, the Blue Wahoos had 11 runs and 14 hits, while Birmingham had no runs and three hits.
At the end of the game, Pensacola compiled 13 runs and a season-high 19 hits. Pensacola also added eight extra base hits and leads the Southern League with 127 extra base hits since July 1.
Every Blue Wahoos starter earned a hit Tuesday. Pensacola center fielder Bryson Smith led the way with a 5-6 night with two runs scored and four RBIs, which included his three-run homer and a double. Smith, who has three homers for Pensacola, said the five hits is the most he’s recorded in his professional career.
Smith, who has played in Pensacola at least once a season since its inaugural season in 2012, said he clobbered a hanging slider.
“The wind might have blown it out. I don’t know,” Smith said jokingly. “That was a lot of runs. At some point, you just want it to stop and it did thankfully.”
In addition, the teams combined for 33 hits, which ties the franchise record set against Jacksonville on Aug. 10, 2013.
The Pensacola franchise records are 17 runs and 22 hits in a 17-1 victory in Jacksonville on April 21, 2014.
Meanwhile, right-hander Barret Astin took care of the Barons, throwing six innings, giving up five runs on nine hits, striking out two and walking one.
Birmingham mounted its own offensive attack scoring seven runs over three innings from the fifth through the seventh. It included a three-run blast by first baseman Jeremy Dowdy in the fifth inning and a solo blast by third baseman Thomas in the sixth.
Pensacola came right back with two runs in the seventh inning to go back up 13-7 when Winker doubled in Bryson Smith and Duran singled past the second basemen to drive in Winker.
Birmingham still had more runs to score after Jacob May launched a three-run homer in the eighth inning to bring the Barons back within three, 13-10.
Kelly said he was trying to resist using closer Zack Weiss, who now has a Southern League-leading 18 saves and had struck out the side four times in his last six outings. Weiss recorded the last five outs in the score fest.
“In the fourth inning their best player (shortstop Tim Anderson) comes out of the game and they get within striking distance of beating us,” Kelly said. “There were times in the seventh and eighth that I thought we might lose it. It was chaos.”
The Blue Wahoos head to play the Biloxi Shuckers tied for first place with the Mississippi Braves in the second half in the Southern League South Division at 26-19 (51-62). Biloxi, which moved into its new stadium June 6, won the first half of the South Division.
Bryson Smith, who came from Triple-A Louisville July 17, said he’s looking forward to the five-game series, since Pensacola has not had a winning half yet.
“Obviously, we can’t put a lot of pressure on ourselves,” he said. “It’s fun to be in the hunt. We just have to do our best. I’ve been here a couple years, so it’s really nice to be a part of all of this.”
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos travel to play a five-game series beginning at 6:40 p.m. Wednesday against the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate the Biloxi Shuckers.
Wahoos Drop To B’ham
August 11, 2015
One of the areas that Pensacola Blue Wahoos manager Pat Kelly wanted to see improve in the second half was the team’s bullpen.
The Blue Wahoos used three relievers Monday, who allowed one run on seven hits and one walk over 6.1 innings and struck out four.
Despite the solid performances by Jacob Johnson, Joel Bender and Kyle McMyne in relief of starter Cody Reed, Pensacola dropped its second straight game to Southern League North Division leaders the Birmingham Barons, 7-2, in front of 4,136 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
However, the Blue Wahoos remained tied for second place with the Mississippi Braves in the second half in the Southern League South Division at 25-19 (50-62).
The bullpen got its opportunity to show its stuff when Pensacola left-hander Cody Reed was chased after 2.2 innings. Reed came over in the Johnny Cueto trade July 26 with the Kansas City Royals and was making a much-anticipated Double-A start at home.
Kelly said the relievers kept Pensacola in the game. The Barons had the bases loaded in the second and seventh innings and runners at first and third in the third inning but couldn’t get a run across the plate.
“They did a great job,” Kelly said. “We had a couple of opportunities and they kept us in the game.”
Reed entered the game 2-0 in two starts on the road with a 0.60 ERA, giving up one run in 15 innings. The Southern League pitcher of the week, though, promptly faced nine batters and gave up five runs in the first inning to Birmingham. However, in the second inning he struck out the top of the Barons’ order.
But when the struggling Reed walked in a run in the third inning, he was pulled. His line was: 2.2 innings, six earned runs, three hits, five walks and three strikeouts.
Kelly said he liked that Reed kept his composure despite being in trouble most of his start.
“His command was a little off,” Kelly said. “He really competes. He came out in the second inning and struck out the side. I liked what I saw. He didn’t give in.”
Meanwhile, Birmingham starter Frankie Montas shut down the Blue Wahoos lineup over the first five innings. He allowed four hits one run and zero earned runs walked two and struck out five. Rated the No. 89 prospect in Major League Baseball, Montas improved to 4-3 and lowered his ERA to 2.59.
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos play the final game of a five-game series at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday against the Chicago White Sox Double-A affiliate the Birmingham Barons.
Wahoos Win Second Straight Over Birmingham Barons
August 9, 2015
Three Pensacola Blue Wahoos smacked home runs and the club won its second straight game over the Birmingham Barons Saturday.
Blue Wahoos center fielder Bryson Smith doubled with two outs in the eighth inning to score Pensacola speedster Beau Amaral from third with the winning run, 8-7, in front of its 20th sellout of the year at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
It was Pensacola’s seventh win in the last nine games and the Blue Wahoos remained a half-game back of Southern League South Division second half leader the Mobile BayBears at 25-17 (49-60). Mobile is 25-16 in the second half.
Pensacola came back to defeat the Barons after trailing, 5-1, in the third inning. Blue Wahoos shortstop Alex Blandino smashed a three-run homer to left field in the bottom of the third inning to bring Pensacola within one run, 5-4. Both catcher Yovan Gonzalez and Bryson Smith scored on Blandino’s second homer for the Blue Wahoos since joining the club Aug. 3.
Pensacola also got a monstrous solo blast from third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean in the second inning, which was his sixth of the year to have a team-leading 42 RBIs. Gonzalez, who now has a four-game hit streak, hit his third homer of the year when he smashed a two-run blast in the fourth inning.
The Blue Wahoos have led the Southern League since July 1 with 117 extra base hits.
Coming back from four runs down is something the Blue Wahoos have rarely done this season, said Pensacola manager Pat Kelly. Kelly credits the addition of right fielder Juan Duran’s bat to the lineup July 1 after he completed injury rehab.
“He really lengthens our lineup,” Kelly said. “Everyone is in a position now where they are very comfortable.”
Kelly said he was most impressed with Blandino’s homer to left. “That was a big blow right there,” he said.
He also complimented Gonzalez, the backup catcher for the Wahoos, who was 1-2 with two walks Saturday and scored two runs.
“He’s swinging a great bat the last four or five games,” Kelly said. “He’s done it in limited play. He’s in a tough role. It’s nice to see that production.”
Gonzalez’s two-run homer in the fourth brought the Blue Wahoos within, 7-6. Buckley then scored on a Ryan Wright sacrifice fly to right to tie the game, 7-7, in the sixth inning.
Birmingham went up 7-4 when third baseman Nicky Delmonico, who had a home run and three RBIs, singled in shortstop Tim Anderson, who hit a leadoff double in the fourth inning. Delmonico then scored on a sacrifice fly to right field by designated hitter Danny Hayes.
Anderson, the Chicago White Sox top prospect, went 2-4 with a double, scored three times and stole three bases for a Southern League-leading 44 steals on the year.
“He is such a threat,” Kelly said. “Plus, he plays great at shortstop.”
Wahoos Beat The B’ham Barons
August 8, 2015
You know things are going right for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos when your eighth and ninth hitters each jack solo homers over the left field wall and score three of the team’s five runs.
Pensacola Blue Wahoos designated hitter Sean Buckley scored twice on a solo home run and double and center fielder Beau Amaral scored once, smashing a solo shot and hitting a sharp grounder to third that scored Buckley.
The Blue Wahoos opened the five-game series Friday with the Birmingham Barons with a 5-3 victory in front of 4,422 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
Buckley joked that he received a new shipment Friday of 34-inch, 32-ounce bats that helped him hit his second homer of the season.
“I got some new bats and think they were the key,” the 6-foot-3 Buckley said. “The pitcher (Tyler Danish) throws a lot of sinkers. I was looking for a sinker and put a good swing on it.”
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said Buckley, the eighth hitter, and Amaral, the ninth hitter, came through for the Blue Wahoos Friday.
Buckley went 3-4 with two runs, a homer, a double and one RBI. Meanwhile, Amaral was 1-4 with the homer for an RBI and drove in Buckley in the eighth on a hard-hit grounder to Birmingham third baseman Nicky Delmonico that he could not corral.
“Buckley’s not your typical eight hitter,” Kelly said. “He hit three balls on the nose.”
The Blue Wahoos, who hit five extra base hits Friday, have a Southern League leading 112 extra base hits since July 1.
Pensacola had taken the lead, 4-3, in the seventh inning when left fielder Jesse Winker and first baseman Marquez Smith smacked back-to-back, two-out doubles. It put the Blue Wahoos ahead for the first time in the game.
Winker, who went 2-2 with a run scored and two walks, bounced his double off the left center wall. Smith then hit a chopper down the third base line that rolled into the left field corner.
Birmingham had gone back on top, 3-2, in the fifth inning when left fielder Marcus Lemon hit a bloop double to shallow left field just inside the foul line and scored on third baseman Nicky Delmonico’s ground out.
The Blue Wahoos also enjoyed seven strong innings from Daniel Wright who gave up three runs on five hits and struck out seven in seven innings. He improved to 8-8 with a 4.62 ERA.
Pensacola relievers Patrick Schuster and Zack Weiss ended the game with each striking out the side in their one innings of relief. Weiss now has a team-leading 16 saves and 45 strikeouts in 36.1 innings.
Kelly praised his starter for giving up just three runs in seven innings, including two in the first, and working out of a jam when he walked the first two batters who made it to second and third before Pensacola ended the threat.
“The whole key was him going seven innings and giving up three runs,” Kelly said.
Pensacola moved into just a half-game back of Southern League South Division second half leader the Mobile BayBears at 24-17 (49-60). Mobile is 24-16 in the second half.
Jacksonville Hangs On To Beat The Wahoos 5-4
August 7, 2015
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos came within one run of tying the Jacksonville Suns after a two-run homer with no outs by catcher Kyle Skipworth.
However, the Suns got the next three batters out to pull out a, 5-4, victory and end the Blue Wahoos three-game win streak. But Pensacola won the overall series, 12-8, and captured the Golden Skillet trophy, given to the winner of the series between the Florida rivals, for the first time since its inaugural season in 2012.
Skipworth, who hit a franchise record five home runs in five games for Pensacola in July and fell one game short of the Southern League record, hit his team-leading 10th homer of the season to right field that also scored center fielder Beau Amaral. But that was the closest Pensacola would come.
Pensacola jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning when third baseman Marquez Smith hit his fourth triple of the season and right fielder Juan Duran knocked him in with a sacrifice fly to right field.
But Jacksonville posted the next five runs to go ahead, 5-1. The Suns second baseman David Adams scored when catcher Sharif Othman grounded out into a double play to knot the game, 1-1, in the second inning.
Then in the fourth, Jacksonville added four more with three coming on first baseman Viosergy Rosa’s three-run home run to right field.
Pensacola added a run in the eighth when right fielder Bryson Smith hit a solo shot to pull within, 5-2, which set up Skipworth in the ninth.
Pensacola’s loss at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville left the Blue Wahoos in second place at 23-17 (48-60) in the Southern League South Division. The Suns are in last place at 14-26 (43-66).
New FHSAA Overhaul Bill Filed
August 6, 2015
After a proposal to overhaul the Florida High School Athletic Association died this spring, a House Republican has filed a scaled-back version that could renew debate during the 2016 legislative session. Rep. Ross Spano, R-Dover, this week filed the measure (HB 31), which includes pieces of a broader bill that passed the House in April but failed in the Senate.
Proposals to revamp the athletic organization have been controversial in recent years and have involved issues such as the association’s governance and the eligibility of high-school athletes.
Spano’s bill, in part, would prevent fees collected by the association for such things as special events and sanctioning to exceed the association’s actual costs. It also would allow schools to join the association on a per-sport basis and would prevent the association from discouraging schools’ membership in other athletic organizations.
by The News Service of Florida
Wahoos Beat Jacksonville
August 6, 2015
Pitching was the name of the game as the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (23-16, 48-59) took down the Jacksonville Suns (13-25, 42-66) by a score of 2-1 at Bragan Field. With tonight’s win, the Blue Wahoos clinched the series over the Suns.
Wahoos starter Cody Reed (2-0, 0.60) was dominant as he shut out the Suns through 8.0 innings while striking out a career-high 12 batters. Reed has allowed only one run through 14.0 innings with the Wahoos. His 12 strikeouts were also a season-high for a Wahoos pitcher. Zack Weiss earned the save, his 15th of the season.
Despite allowing only a pair of runs on three hits through 7.0 innings, Jacksonville starter Scott Lyman (0-7) is still looking for his first Double-A win. Lyman was dominant until the seventh inning, as he had allowed but a hit and two walks to that point.
Juan Duran and Ryan Wright, who each had a critical extra-base RBI in the seventh inning to break the scoreless tie, led the Wahoos at the plate. Bryson Smith, Alex Blandino and Jesse Winker also recorded hits for the Blue Wahoos. Winker now has a five-game hit streak and is batting .368 in the month of August.
The first run of the game came in the top of the seventh on a Duran RBI double to the left-center field gap that scored Marquez Smith from first. Wright would then bring Duran home on a triple over the head of Kenny Wilson in center.
Matt Juengel made some noise for the Suns in the bottom of the ninth with a deep homer over the left field wall. Weiss, however, responded with a pair of outs to earn the save.
The Blue Wahoos return home Friday to begin a five-game series against the Birmingham Barons.
Blue Wahoos Take The Golden Skillet
August 5, 2015
The Jacksonville Suns managed just one run and four hits in 14 innings Tuesday, and the Pensacola Blue Wahoos clinched the Golden Skillet for the first time in the club’s four years of franchise history.
Pensacola won both games, 1-0, and, 12-1, and the Blue Wahoos clinched the trophy with an 11-7 edge in the series with two more games against Jacksonville to play at Bragan Field.
In the second game, Yovan Gonzalez lined a solo home run to left center field in the third inning to give Pensacola the win. It was his second homer of the season.
Meanwhile, Blue Wahoos starter Wandy Peralta allowed just one hit, walked one and struck out five in five innings. He improved to 7-7 with a 5.42 ERA for Pensacola. Closer Zack Weiss struck out one and allowed one hit to earn his Blue Wahoos-leading 14th save.
The Blue Wahoos won the first game of the doubleheader Tuesday, 12-1, when Pensacola used four pitchers to keep the Suns hitless until center fielder Kenny Wilson singled off Miguel Celestino to lead off the ninth inning. The game was suspended due to rain in the third inning Monday night at Bragan Field.
Until Celestino entered the game, Sal Romano, Jacob Johnson and Joel Bender put together eight innings of hitless ball against Jacksonville. Johnson gave up one unearned run, four walks and struck out four in five innings to improve his record to 4-2.
Romano struck out two in his two innings of work Monday in his Double-A debut, while Bender struck out one in his inning of work.
Jacksonville scored its only run in the fifth inning of the first game when third baseman David Adams walked and scored on a passed ball by Pensacola catcher Kyle Skipworth.
Pensacola benefitted from a solo home run in the third inning by right fielder Jesse Winker, his eighth homer of the season. In addition, second baseman Alex Blandino hit his first Double-A home run when he hit a two-run blast in the fourth inning. Blue Wahoos third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean also went 3-5 with a double, run scored and three RBIs and now has 40 RBIs for Pensacola this season.
Pensacola (22-16, 47-59) is in second place in the second half of the Southern League South Division, while the Jacksonville Suns dropped to last place (13-25, 42-65).
Over 1,000 Florida Hunters Bag Permits For Bear Hunt
August 4, 2015
More than 1,00 permits to hunt bears this fall were sold by Tuesday morning, the first time in more than two decades that such licenses have been available in Florida.
The sale of the special-use permits — available throughout the state at tax collectors’ offices, online and at sporting-goods stores that sell hunting and fishing supplies — began despite a lawsuit that was filed Friday against the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to try to halt the hunt.
“I do know the permits are being sold and being sold successfully,” Diane Eggeman, director of the commission’s Division of Hunting and Game Management, said Monday morning.
The state hasn’t estimated how many permits — which cost $100 for Florida residents and $300 for non-residents — will be bought by Oct. 23, the day before the hunt begins.
The hunt is slated to last from two to seven days, depending on the number of bears killed.
Laura Bevan, southern regional director for the Humane Society of the United States, said people seeking permits are only doing so to get trophies, and she doesn’t believe the state is doing enough to limit the number of bears that will be killed.
“All the hunters will go into the woods at the same time. We’re really worried that it’s going to be a slaughterhouse,” Bevan said. “This is a (bear) population that only came off the threatened list 2 1/2 years ago. This is a population that’s under pressure from development, from poaching, from all kinds of things, and now we’re going to open up a hunt.”
The Humane Society supports but isn’t a party to the lawsuit seeking to stop the bear hunt. The lawsuit was filed in Leon County circuit court by the Seminole County-based environmental group Speak Up Wekiva.
“Even if we feel that the hunt is unethical and unscientific there may not be a legal way to stop it,” Bevan said.
The permits went on sale at 5 a.m. Monday. All but six of the first bear permits sold were to Florida hunters.
The state is seeking a 20 percent reduction in the bear population, which is estimated around 3,000. That percentage reduction includes bears dying naturally or getting killed by vehicles, as well as those killed in the hunt.
“We want to reach that minimum number, that harvest objective, so we can reach the stabilization of the populations,” Eggeman said.
The state hasn’t put a limit on the number of special-use bear permits that will be sold, but each hunter will be limited to killing a single bear during the week.
Eggeman said officials don’t expect the hunt to exceed bear-hunting quotas that will be set for each of the four regions of the state where hunting will be allowed — the eastern Panhandle, Northeast Florida, east-central Florida and South Florida.
The commission will set the final quota numbers for each region in September.
Other than to say they are confident a judge will support the commission’s approval of the bear hunt, state officials aren’t discussing the merits of the lawsuit.
The lawsuit contends the rules for the hunt go against a 1998 voter-approved constitutional amendment that created the commission as an independent body “to conduct management, preservation and conservation decision-making based upon sound science.” The complaint also claims the bear hunt is not based upon sound science and won’t reduce growing conflicts between bears and humans.
The lawsuit didn’t ask a judge to halt the commission from offering the permits.
But supporters of the lawsuit contend the permitting should wait until the courts rule on the lawsuit to reduce the risk of having to refund money to people who have paid.
Opponents of the hunt have argued that Florida’s increased human population is expanding into wildlife habitat and that the state should further implement non-lethal rules, such as bear-proofing trash containers, prohibiting people from feeding wild bears and cracking down on the illegal harvesting of saw palmetto berries, which is a staple of a bear’s diet.
by Jim Turner, The News Service of Florida