Wahoos Beat Jackson
May 22, 2015
Zach Vincej came into Thursday’s game hitting .200 with only one run-batted in for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos.
However, the shortstop went 2-4 on the night, launching a three-run line drive over the left field wall that gave him his first homer of the year and raised his average to .220.
Vincej’s homer also lifted Pensacola to a six-run sixth inning and a victory, 8-5, in the opening of the five-game series with the Jackson Generals in front of 4,227 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
Vincej, who was coming off of seven days on the disabled list with a left wrist contusion, said it felt good to get all of the hanging curveball from Jackson reliever Jordan Shippers, who was pounding him inside with fastballs.
“I’ve had a couple frustrating months myself personally,” Vincej said. “I had to remind myself it’s a long season and you just have to be resilient at the end of the day. I knew I got a good piece of it. It was a nice feeling. I’m glad everything worked out.”
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said a home run is a home run.
“It was great,” said Kelly, whose team is now on a 10-4 winning streak since May 7. “Fortunately, they give you the same number of points whether it goes over by an inch or 100-feet. Zach has had a tough time. But since he’s spent time on the DL, he’s been swinging the bat well since he has come back.”
Six of the Blue Wahoos eight runs – the most they’ve scored in a game this season – came from the bottom four batters in the order: third baseman Juan Perez, Vincej, DH Cam Maron and left fielder Juan Silva.
“We had six RBIs and six runs scored from the bottom of the lineup,” Kelly said. “That’s huge. Now, everybody is kind of on a roll.”
Jackson went ahead, 3-2, in the top of the sixth inning on five walks, four by Pensacola reliever Layne Somsen who lasted 0.1 innings and was charged with the runs.
That’s when the Blue Wahoos came right back with six straight runners on base, who all scored to put Pensacola back on top, 8-3.
“We’re believing in each other,” Vincej said of Pensacola, which improved to 18-23 on the season. “If they put three, we can put up three, as well. We have to keep our confidence going.”
Northview Grad Robinson Signs Pensacola State Basketball Scholarship
May 21, 2015
Neino Robinson, a 2014 graduate of Northview High School, signed a basketball scholarship Wednesday with Pensacola State College.
The Florida Association of Basketball Coaches named Robinson to the 2013-2014 Boys Class 1A All-State first team.
Robinson, was the only public school player from Escambia County named to any of the associations’ all-state teams in an classification. Players were selected based on in-person evaluations, a review of all-area teams selected by media from around the state, and recognition from the Florida Association of Basketball Coaches.
The Florida Association of Basketball Coaches includes coaches from the high school, junior college and four-year college levels.
Mississippi Downs Pensacola
May 21, 2015
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos and Mississippi Braves played five games that all went down to the wire at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
If you didn’t care who won, it was entertaining baseball. Die hard Blue Wahoos fans, though, left disappointed.
This time the Braves scored four runs on four hits in the top of the ninth inning to go ahead and win, 5-2, in front of 3,207 fans Wednesday. Mississippi took the series, 3-2.
The first three games between the two teams were all decided by one run.
“We’ve played some really good ball games,” said Pensacola Manager Pat Kelly of his team that fell to 17-23 and remain in fourth place in the Southern League South Division. “We had a chance to win all five. Mississippi is a good ball club and we stayed even with them.”
Pensacola center fielder Beau Amaral lined what looked like the game-winning, solo home run just over the right field wall in the seventh inning that put the Blue Wahoos ahead, 2-1. Amaral went 3-5 on the night with a stolen base, his fourth of the season.
However, Mississippi chased Pensacola reliever Zack Weiss in the ninth when first baseman Corban Joseph singled to drive in two runs to put the Braves up, 3-2. Then center fielder Mallex Smith singled to drive in two more with two out, making the final score, 5-2.
Mississippi scored first in the second inning with two out when starting Pensacola pitcher Wandy Peralta walked two and then gave up a single to second baseman Eric Garcia that drove in third baseman Rio Ruiz to go ahead, 1-0.
Blue Wahoos catcher Yovan Gonzalez scored in the third inning to tie the game, 1-1, on second baseman Ryan Wright’s single to center.
Peralta threw six innings of two-hit ball and gave up just one run but he walked six batters.
“When he continues to control his emotions he can stay in the ball game,” Kelly said. “Earlier this season, if he threw nine straight balls, he never would have finished that inning.”
Summer Tryouts Next Week For Tate Softball, Northview Baseball, Tate Baseball
May 20, 2015
Northview High School Baseball and Tate High School softball have scheduled summer tryouts.
The 2015 Class 7A Softball State Champion Lady Aggies will hold Summer Softball Tryouts on Tuesday, May 26 and Thursday May 28 at 5:30 p.m. on the Tate softball field (enter the campus at the Kingsfield Road gate). For more information, contact Coach Melinda Wyatt at (850) 937-2300 ext. 241 or email mwyatt@escambia.k12.fl.us.
Northview High School will hold Summer Baseball Tryouts on Monday, May 25 at 10 a.m. at Northview for all returning Northview students, returning players and incoming freshmen. No pre-registration is required. Email Coach Marty Lister at mlister@escambia.k12.fl.us for more information.
Tate High School will hold Summer Team Tryouts on Monday, May 25 from 10 a.m. until noon. No pre-registration is required. Email Coach Greg Blackmon at gblackmon@escambia.k12.fl.us for more information.
Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Wahoos Win Over Braves
May 19, 2015
It took Little Heroes Night to help the Pensacola Blue Wahoos stop a two-game skid to the Mississippi Braves Monday.
Seth “Superman” Mejias-Brean (running faster than a speeding bullet, of course) scored the winning run, 4-3, for Pensacola when Juan “Superman” Silva doubled to left field just inside the chalk in the sixth inning in front of 3,604 fans at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
Superman was, in fact, the top super hero pick of the Blue Wahoos players and Pensacola Manager Pat Kelly on the promotion at the ballpark Monday. Each player chose their top characters.
Mejias-Brean a three-sport star in high school in Tucson, Ariz., showed off his speed Monday. In the sixth, he reached first on an infield single to third and then ended up stealing second base on a hit-and-run. It was his second steal of the night after stealing just one base in his previous 100 games at Pensacola.
Kelly said Mejias-Brean has deceptive speed and called him one of the Blue Wahoos top base runners.
“He gets those size 16’s going and covers some ground,” Kelly said. “He’s a much better athlete than people give him credit for.”
Mejias-Brean was in a 3-36 slump hitting .083 before going 8-25 or .320 in his last seven games. After going 2-4 on two singles, he’s reached base in his last eight games. He laughed off his two stolen bases Monday.
“I’ve always had the green light to go,” he said. “I don’t show off (my speed) too often but it’s there.”
The “Supermans” bailed out Robert “The Hulk” Stephenson, who started the game for Pensacola and got his second win in a row. He left after six innings, having given up three earned runs on a home run blast by Kevin Ahrens in the third inning. Stephenson gave up six hits, two walks and struck out six.
Stephenson liked his Blue Wahoos graphic as “The Hulk,” except for his mustache. He’s shaved it off but was sporting it earlier in the season when team pictures were taken. Stephenson, the Cincinnati Reds top prospect the past two seasons and a 27th pick in the first round in 2011, said he’s come to rely on his non-Hulk like changeup, instead of his mid-90s fastball. He struck out four Mississippi batters with his changeup on Monday.
“I had that just one bad pitch,” Stephenson said. “Just being able to throw the fastball down in the zone and then show the change up after allows me to get some swings on it. I think our pitching has been outstanding.”
Pensacola got on the scoreboard first when Marquez Smith lined a grounder off of Mississippi pitcher Jake Brigham’s right leg. Second baseman Ryan Wright scored to put Pensacola ahead, 1-0, for the first time in three games against Mississippi. Meanwhile, Brigham walked off the field and was relieved by Mark Lamm.
The Blue Wahoos have won eight of their last 11 games, scoring five runs in half of those games, while throwing two shutouts and allowing just one run four times. Pensacola moved out of last place in the Southern League South Division at 16-22, one game ahead of the Jacksonville Suns.
Mississippi Downs The Wahoos In Second Straight Game
May 18, 2015
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos love the grass and spectacular waterfront view at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium as much as the fans.
But after a second heartbreaking loss to the Mississippi Braves, 3-2, in 10 innings they are now 6-12 at home and 9-10 on the road.
Pensacola came through in the ninth inning with two runs to tie the game up with Mississippi at 2-2 and send it into extra innings Sunday in front of the 112th sellout crowd of 5,038 fans in 219 games since the team opened its gates in April 2012.
The night before on Saturday, Pensacola loaded the bases in its final at-bat with no outs but couldn’t get a run across and lost that game, 1-0.
“Obviously, it’s a little tough to lose like we have the past couple of games,” said Adleman, the Blue Wahoos starter who posted 17 straight scoreless innings dating back to his relief appearance May 1. “A loss is a loss. Both of them were pretty tough.”
Adleman’s scoreless streak ended when third baseman Rio Ruiz doubled in right fielder Chris O’Dowd for a 1-0 Mississippi lead in the fifth inning. It was only the second run that Adleman has given up in May. He threw seven innings, allowing four hits and two walks and striking out five.
Still, Pensacola had a chance to win after tying the game, 2-2, in the ninth inning when catcher Kyle Skipworth doubled and scored on center fielder Juan Silva’s hopper that went down the right field line bouncing off Mississippi first baseman Seth Loman’s glove to make the score, 2-1. Marquez Smith then got all of a fly ball to center that scored pinch runner Beau Amaral from third to knot it, 2-2.
Mississippi came right back in the 10th inning, though, when center fielder Mallex Smith singled in second baseman Eric Garcia to put the Braves back on top, 3-2.
Braves reliever Tyler Jones came on in relief in the 10th and stuck out Ryan Wright, Jesse Winker and Kyle Waldrop—the heart of the Blue Wahoos lineup—for his second save of the season and Mississippi’s second straight win of the five-game series. Wright, Winker and Waldrop were a combined 1-15 for five Ks and two ground outs into double plays.
Pensacola Manager Pat Kelly said the Blue Wahoos have just run into two of Mississippi’s best pitchers—Tyrell Jenkins, the Braves No. 12 prospect, Sunday and Jason Hursh, the No. 6 prospect in the organization on Saturday.
Kelly expects the Pensacola offense to pick up again where it left off when the Blue Wahoos won seven of eight games before its recent homestand.
“We have to tip our cap to their pitching,” Kelly said. “They really pitched our left-handers tough. We face two pretty good pitchers.”
Mississippi Ends The Blue Wahoos’ Win Streak
May 17, 2015
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos looked good in its special jerseys by marine artist Guy Harvey with the big game fish seemingly swimming off of the front.
When they loaded the bases with none out on three straight singles in the bottom of the ninth inning, they felt even better. With a four-game win streak on the line, the fans and players just knew, just knew the team would win a fifth in the row.
Up to the plate came Pensacola catcher Kyle Skipworth, who reached base in his first three plate appearances. However, after fouling four straight pitches off with two strikes, Skipworth struck out on the ninth pitch from Mississippi Braves reliever Ryan Kelly.
A pop out to shortstop and strike out later and Mississippi stole a, 1-0, victory from the jaws of the Blue Wahoos in front of a sellout crowd of 5,038 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium. The Braves lone run came in the first inning on a homer—his first of the season—that was crushed by 6-4, 230-pound right fielder David Rohm that appeared to fly about four feet over a leaping Jesse Winker’s glove at the wall.
Pensacola starter Keyvius Sampson, who picked up the loss (1-2), threw six innings, gave up three hits, walked three and struck out five. He lowered his ERA to 2.05.
No one was rooting harder than Sampson in the locker room, where he was icing his arm, for Pensacola to score in the ninth.
“You never want one pitch to decide the game,” Sampson said afterward. “I was inside rooting for them. Our team could have easily gave in and gone 1-2-3 and called it a day but they kept fighting.”
The Braves looked like they would score again in the fourth inning but catcher Matt Kennelly was gunned down by a perfect throw at the plate by Blue Wahoos center fielder Beau Amaral.
Mississippi pitcher Jason Hursh, the Braves No. 6 prospect, matched Sampson inning for inning. After allowing five or more runs in four of his last five outings, Hursh threw six scoreless innings against Pensacola, giving up three hits, one walk and striking out four.
Four In A Row: Pensacola Blue Wahoos Beat Jacksonsville
May 16, 2015
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos beat the Jacksonville Suns for the fourth straight game and now have won seven of its last eight games—the club’s best streak in two seasons since Aug. 18-24, 2013.
You could call it the Barry Larkin Effect.
The Blue Wahoos have won its last two series since the Hall of Fame shortstop and new minor league roving infield instructor for the Cincinnati Reds coached the team during its last series May 5-9 against the Tennessee Smokies.
The, 3-1, Pensacola victory at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville also lifted the Blue Wahoos out of last place into fourth in the Southern League South Division. Pensacola is 15-20, while Jacksonville dropped to last at 14-20.
Blue Wahoos Manager Pat Kelly and many of the Blue Wahoos credited Larkin for getting them out of their early season slump, when they fell 11 games below .500.
Right fielder Kyle Waldrop, who spoke to Larkin about hitting mechanics, extended his hitting streak to eight games in the eighth inning with an RBI single that drove in left fielder Jesse Winker to put Pensacola out front, 1-0. Third baseman, Seth Mejias-Brean then doubled to clear the bases, plating both first baseman Marquez Smith and Waldrop.
Waldrop is on fire. In the Jacksonville series, he had two homers and 10 RBIs, along with two triples and a double. During his hitting streak, he is batting .419 with 13 hits in 31 at-bats. He leads the team with a .298 batting average, five home runs and 24 RBIs this season.
Both starting pitchers matched each other inning for inning. Blue Wahoos starter Wandy Peralta threw six scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and two walks, and striking out six. He threw 90 pitches, including 59 for strikes.
Meanwhile, Jacksonville’s Kendry Flores went seven scoreless innings, lowering his ERA to 2.06.
Tate’s Worley Inks With Jeff Davis
May 15, 2015
Tate High School senior Hunter Worley signed Thursday to play baseball for Jefferson Davis Community College in Brewton, AL. The senior third baseman had a productive year at the bat hitting .388 with 22 RBI’s, and a .517 OBP. Photo courtesy Tate baseball for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Wahoos Take Third Straight From Jacksonville
May 15, 2015
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos won its third straight game against the Jacksonville Suns, 5-2, Thursday.
The Blue Wahoos got 10 hits to support starter Daniel Wright with his first win of the year (1-4), as he allowed nine hits, two runs, one earned, two walks and five strikeouts.
Wright allowed two runs to Jacksonville in the first inning after giving up four in the first to Tennessee Smokies in his last start. Both times Pensacola came back to win those games.
Jacksonville center fielder Kenny Wilson and third baseman Zach Cox scored for Jacksonville in the first.
Pensacola then got a homer by Kyle Waldrop in the second inning, his team-leading fifth of the season to cut the lead, 2-1. Center fielder Beau Amaral tied the game at, 2-2, when he singled in shortstop Zach Vincej.
The Blue Wahoos’ game-winning run came in the sixth inning when Seth Mejias-Brean singled to left field to score first baseman Marquez Smith for a 3-2 lead. Pensacola scored two more insurance runs in the seventh inning when Daniel Wright drove in Vincej and then Wright scored on a fielding error on a Smith grounder to third base.
Waldrop’s homer was his second in two games and extended his hitting streak to seven games. He’s batting .444 in those games with 12 hits in 27 at-bats. He leads the team with a .299 batting average this year.