Summer Ball: Tate Takes Three From Escambia
June 13, 2015
The Tate Aggies took three from the Escambia Gators in summer ball Friday.
The Tate “A” Team swept the Gators in a double header 7-4 and 3-2. The Aggies next game is Tuesday at 4 p.m. against Auburn, AL.
The Tate “B” Team split its summer league double header with Escambia. Tate won the first game 8-0, while Escambia won the second 11-3.
Wahoos A Washout
June 13, 2015
Friday night’s game between the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and the Montgomery Biscuits was rained out.
Friday’s game will be made up Saturday night during a doubleheader scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. in Montgomery.
Pensacola’s Tim Adleman (2-6, 2.33) will pitch the first game, while reliever Jacob Johnson (3-1, 4.61), who has pitched in 14 relief appearances, is scheduled to make a spot start. The Blue Wahoos return home for a five-game series against the Mobile BayBears Wednesday June 17-21.
Biscuits Top The Blue Wahoos In Series Opener
June 12, 2015
The Montgomery Biscuits won the series opener Thursday at its Riverwalk Stadium over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos by scoring four runs in the fifth inning. The two teams return to the field Friday night at 7:05 p.m.
Pensacola did have a last chance to rally. The Blue Wahoos loaded the bases in their final at bat in the ninth inning with no outs when catcher Cam Maron walked, center fielder Beau Amaral singled and second baseman Ryan Wright singled. However, left fielder Jesse Winker popped out to third and first baseman Ray Chang grounded out into a double play.
The Biscuits chased the Blue Wahoos’ lefty Wandy Peralta by scoring four runs off eight hits and three walks.
Montgomery evened its record at 30-30 and fourth place in the Southern League North Division. Meanwhile, Pensacola dropped to 23-36 and last place in the South Division.
In the fifth inning, Montgomery scored its four runs. Right fielder Boog Powell singled on a bunt to first baseman Chang and was driven in by left fielder Joey Rickard on his double to centerfield to go up, 1-0. First baseman Cameron Seitzer singled to right field to score Rickard for a, 2-0, lead. Finally, Johnny Field smashed a two-run blast to center, his eighth homer of the year, to also scored Seitzer to go ahead, 4-0.
In the top of the sixth, Winker lead off the inning with a walk and ended up scoring on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Juan Perez to cut the lead to 4-1.
Montgomery added two more insurance runs in the eighth to go ahead, 6-1, when second baseman Hector Guevara hit a two-run shot, his first homer of the season, to bring in catcher Jake DePew.
Winker has now scored five times in the past 10 games and the Cincinnati Reds No. 2 prospect is hitting .326 (14-43) over that span.
In his last six games, Chang, who went 1-5 against Montgomery and had a walk-off double Wednesday, is hitting .444 (8-18). Amaral, who went 1-4, is batting .295 (13-44) with hits in 11 of the last 12 games.
The Blue Wahoos return home to play the Mobile BayBears June 17-21.
Suns Top Wahoos
June 11, 2015
Pensacola Blue Wahoos third baseman Ray Chang hit a walk-off single but his mother, Wendy, wanted to know about his throwing error.
In the eighth inning, Chang threw the ball in the dirt to first base that allowed the Jacksonville Suns to score two runs and tie the game, 6-6.
However, Chang got an opportunity to redeem himself in the ninth inning and hit a sharp line drive to left field that scored first baseman Marquez Smith with the winning run, 7-6.
The Blue Wahoos took the final game of the five-game series, 7-6, to beat in-state rival Jacksonville Suns in front of 5,038 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium. On fireworks night for kids who finished school, the game became the first Wednesday night sellout since the Blue Wahoos inaugural season on May 23, 2012.
The 31-year-old minor league veteran, used mostly as a utility player, said he really wanted to get a hit in that last at bat and drove an inside fastball hard to left. Chang went 4-5 in the game with a triple, two doubles, a run scored and three RBIs. He now has 10 RBIs on the season and is hitting a team-leading .325.
“I wanted it so bad because I almost blew it on that throwing error,” said Chang, still drenched from a water and Gatorade baths. “(My mom) actually didn’t sound too excited. She hates when I make errors. She’d rather I go 0-4.”
His last walk-off came on a single Aug. 16, 2011 for the Minnesota Twins Triple-A Rochester Red Wings. His last four-hit game came the following season with Rochester on Aug. 5, 2012.
This season for the Blue Wahoos, Chang has been on fire at the plate. In the past 25 games since May 2, Chang has hit .403, going 29-72. In the series against Jacksonville, he had a 3-3 game in the series opener and then four hits Wednesday night to bat .538 (7-13).
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said he wanted to know the names of Chang’s previous managers who failed to start him, including himself in April. Kelly has inserted him in the regular lineup or to pinch hit over the past month.
“That’s why a veteran presence is so nice,” Kelly said. “He felt bad about his throwing error. But you get redeemers in this game. He got a redeemer and won us the ball game.”
Pensacola scored a season-high six runs on a season-high six hits in the second inning to go ahead, 6-0. But Jacksonville chipped away with two runs in the fourth on a Matt Juengel two-run homer. They added two more on a two-run single by centerfielder Kenny Wilson in the sixth, and then tied it in the eighth.
Chang’s game-winner improves Pensacola’s record to 23-35 and they are last place in the Southern League South Division. The Suns drop to 26-33 and remain in fourth place in the division.
The victory snapped Pensacola’s five-game losing streak and evened the record between the teams this summer at 5-5 for the Golden Skillet that goes annually to the winner. Pensacola still has the Southern League’s worst record in one-run games at 7-17 for a .291 winning percentage.
“You never want to win a game that way but maybe it’s a blessing in disguise because it’s exactly how we’ve been losing,” Chang said. “Baseball is a crazy game. Hopefully, this will get us back on the winning side.”
FHSAA Creates New Baseball, Softball Classification, Keeping 1A As ‘Rural’
June 10, 2015
In the final meeting of the 2014-2015 school year, the Florida High School Athletic Association’s Board of Directors approved a proposal that will add a ninth classification for baseball and softball for the 2015-16 campaign.
The ninth classification for baseball and softball in the upcoming 2015-16 season, using a format similar to what is currently in place for football. In this model, schools will be ranked by student population and divided into nine classifications—the highest two-thirds by population would be divided as evenly as possible into Class 5A through Class 9A and the remaining one-third will be divided as evenly as possible into Class 1A through Class 4A, keeping Class 1A designated as rural.
This model is designed to alleviate concerns about the large enrollment gaps that existed primarily in the lower classifications that were thought to affect competitive balance and this model is scheduled to be implemented for boys and girls basketball and girls volleyball in the 2016-17 school year.
Jacksonville Wins Fourth In A Row Over Blue Wahoos
June 10, 2015
With a fastball that can reach 100, a knee-buckling curveball and deceptive changeup, Robert Stephenson has Southern League hitters under his spell.
The Blue Wahoos pitcher threw his fourth straight dominating game with eight strike outs and three hits in seven innings but lost the one run game, 2-1, to in-state rival Jacksonville Suns in front of 3,481 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said with “consistency” Stephenson can pitch at any level.
“I saw him his last year coming out of high school and thought this was what he was going to do,” Kelly said. “To me, if you can throw three pitches like that over the plate you can pitch anywhere. It’s just a matter of consistency.”
Stephenson, the Cincinnati Reds top prospect for the second year in a row, has now struck out 71 batters this season, which is third in the Southern League. At one point Tuesday, he struck out five of six batters he faced.
Stephenson is second in the league with 10.46 strikeouts per nine innings and third in opponents’ batting average against him at .191.
Tuesday’s game also marked the first time in his career, that the 22-year-old has thrown at least seven innings three games in a row. He’d like to go nine, he said.
“I’ve been struggling a lot and it’s good to turn things around,” he said. “You’d like to get all your struggling done in the minor leagues so by the time you get up there, you are ready to go.”
His strikeouts mostly came on off-speed pitches ranging from 77 mph to 88 mph. But he did strike out Jacksonville catcher Chadd Krist on a 99 mph fastball.
“Everything is pretty much mechanically locked in,” Stephenson said. “I’m confident now I could get hitters out at the Triple-A or big league level.”
The loss to Jacksonville dropped the Blue Wahoos to 22-35 and last place in the Southern League South Division. The Suns improved to 26-32 to remain in fourth place in the division.
Pensacola has the Southern League’s worst record in one-run games at 6-17 for a .240 winning percentage. They’ve lost 10 of their last 11 games.
Center fielder Kenny Wilson singled and stole second base to lead off the sixth inning. He then scored on a two-out double by first baseman Viosergy Ross, who had struck out in his first two at bats, to take the lead for good, 2-1.
Pensacola knotted the game, 1-1, in the fifth inning when center fielder Beau Amaral, who went 2-3 and is batting .291 in 16 games since May 20, singled sharply up the middle to score catcher Cam Maron, who had doubled to the left center gap.
Jacksonville right fielder Carlos Lopez got the first hit of the game for the Suns on a double in the fourth inning off of Stephenson, moved to third on a wild pitch and then scored the first run, 1-0, on a ground out to shortstop by left fielder Ryan Rieger.
Jacksonville Suns Edge Blue Wahoos 8-7
June 8, 2015
Marquez Smith put up prolific numbers for the Cincinnati Reds organization in 2014 with 30 home runs and 131 RBIs and a .311 batting average at High-A Bakersfield Blaze and Double-A Pensacola Blue Wahoos.
55 games into the 2015 season at Pensacola, Smith finally smashed his first dinger of the year. It was a three-run blast to left field that put the Blue Wahoos ahead, 4-1, over in-state rival Jacksonville Suns after six innings.
However, the Pensacola bullpen fell apart giving up four runs in the seventh and three more in the ninth to the Jacksonville Suns, which pulled out an 8-7 victory in front of 4,440 fans at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said he enjoyed watching Smith trot around the bases again.
“It was nice for him to get this off his back,” Kelly said. “He had been pressing. Now, he can relax. He’s a good hitter. He can drive in runs. I know I’d like him to do it more often.”
In his last 17 games since May 14, the 30-year-old Smith has his .296. In the first 29 games he previously played, Smith hit .203.
At that point in the game, Kelly said he was confident about turning the game over to relievers Carlos Gonzalez, Kevin Shackelford and Kyle McMyne—the Southern League BC Relief Pitcher of the Month for May. Together, they combined to give up seven runs on seven hits and two walks.
“When you turn it over to the bullpen with a three-run lead, you don’t expect them to give up seven runs,” Kelly said. “You expect them to shut them down. It was shocking.”
Pensacola still made it interesting by adding runs by Ray Chang and Smith before falling, 8-7. Chang led Pensacola’s offensive attack going 3-3 with three singles and two walks and scored three times. The 31-year-old veteran minor leaguer, who is hitting .320 on the season, has a five game hitting streak going 7-18 to bat .389 over that span with five runs and three RBIs.
Queens Of The NHS Gym Named
June 7, 2015
During National Physical Education and Sports week last month at Northview High School, a competition was held among girls in the weightlifting and conditioning classes for the title of “Queens of the Gym”.
The girls teamed up and participated in variety activities that tested their endurance, speed, agility, strength, and overall athletic ability.
The following teams were winners in the competitions:
- Most Push Ups in a minute- Morgan Ward and Hannah Gibson
- Most Sit-ups in a minute- Andrea Miles and Mrs. Nall
- Farthest Toss -Shnala Banks and Dimionque Brown
- Farthest Jump – Shnala Banks and Dimionque Brown
- Fastest Mile – Morgan Ward and Hannah Gibson
- Strongest Team in bench press- Tied- Ashlynn McCall & Destiny Mathis, and Madison McGhee and Angel Lathan
- Fastest Obstacle Time- Jadlyn Agerton and Peighton Dortch
Overall Team for Northview’s Queens of the Gym 2015
- 3rd Runner up- Kayla Galvan and Tori Smith
- 2nd Runner up -Madison McGhee and Angel Lathan
- Queens for 2015- Morgan Ward and Hannah Gibson
Pictured top: Morgan Ward and Hannah Gibson, Queens of the Gym, at Northview High School. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Wahoo’s Winker Continues Hot Hitting In Loss
June 7, 2015
Southern League pitchers may want to take note, Jesse Winker is getting used to your stuff.
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos outfielder tripled for the team’s only hit and scored the only run in a, 5-1, series opening loss to the Jacksonville Suns Saturday. The game was the 115th sellout at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium since the ballpark opened in April 2012.
Winker is now batting .400 on 8-20 hitting in his last six games with two runs a triple and three RBIs. Winker, who won the Arizona Fall League batting crown this fall, has seen his average rise to .249 on the season.
Winker, the Cincinnati Reds’ No. 2 prospect, lined a triple into the right field corner against reliever Craig Stem to lead off the seventh inning. He then scored on a deep fly ball to left field by first baseman Kyle Waldrop to cut Jacksonville’s lead, 3-1.
“Jess is back to his old form,” said Pensacola manager Pat Kelly. “That’s the Winker I know. He’s a very natural hitter. He can’t have too many swing thoughts. He’s a guy you don’t talk mechanics to. He sees the ball and hits it.”
Kelly said Winker started coming around in the last series against the rival Mobile BayBears. Winker said he’s just trying to be a “tough out.”
“You have to be a tough out,” said Winker, who was chosen in the first round three years ago. “You have to learn to fight even if things are not going your way. Sometimes you’re wishing, ‘Dang, I wish I hit it five feet to the left or right.’”
Meanwhile, Jacksonville left-hander Matt Tomshaw no-hit Pensacola through six innings, allowing just four Blue Wahoos runners to reach base. Tomshaw, who is making his Double-A debut this season, has now started four games for Jacksonville and given up four runs in 21 innings for a 1.71 ERA.
The 26-year-old Tomshaw was getting his fourth spot start this year in place of Kendry Flores, who was recalled to the parent club Miami Marlins earlier this week. Flores made his debut Saturday for Miami and allowed three hits and a walk in 0.2 innings but didn’t allow any runs.
Tomshaw, drafted in the 42nd round out of Jacksonville University by the Minnesota Twins in 2011, said his last no-hitter came in a seven inning game in his sophomore year in high school.
“I was able to work off my fastball—show it in and then throw my sinker away,” said Tomshaw, who improved to 2-4. “That led to a lot of ground balls. Our defense was outstanding.”
Jacksonville finally opened up the game on Peralta in the fifth inning. He had pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the fourth, allowing one run. But in the fifth catcher Chadd Krist earned a walk and scored on a single by center fielder Kenny Wilson to go ahead, 2-0. Wilson then scored when right fielder Carlos Lopez hit a hard grounder back through the box to centerfield for a 3-0 lead.
Jacksonville added two more insurance runs in the ninth on a solo home run that left fielder Matt Juengel crushed over the left field wall for his ninth of the season. It then went ahead, 5-1, on a score by Terrance Dayleg on a Wilson single.
Register Now For Football, Cheer At NWE And Cantonment
June 6, 2015
Registration is underway for the 2015 football and cheerleading seasons for Northwest Escambia and the Cantonment Cowboys.
Registration for the 2015 Cantonment Cowboys football and cheer will be held each Saturday until August 1 from 9 a.m. until noon in the board room at the Cantonment football field. Registration is $135 for football or cheer. For more information, contact Heather Lowery at (850) 380-1505 or visit the Cowboys’ Facebook page. Registration also available online anytime at www.cantonmentcowboys.org or Facebook.
NWE Football and Cheer 2015 registration will be held June 6, June 13 and June 20, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Gilley’s Country Store in Bratt. Football age divisions (age as of August 1, 2015) and costs are as follows: freshmen (5/6) $55; sophomore (7/8) $65; juniors (9/10) $75; seniors (11/12) $85. Cheerleading age divisions (age as of August 1, 2015) and costs are $15 plus cost of uniform: freshmen (5/6); sophomore (7/8); juniors (9/10); seniors (11/12). For more information about football registration contact Greg Gibson at (251) 234-4716. For more information about cheerleading registration contact Kim Lambert at (850) 380-4716.