Shuckers Beat The Pensacola Wahoos, Again
April 30, 2015
All the excitement in Wednesday’s game between the Pensacola Blue Wahoos and the Biloxi Shuckers happened in the eighth and ninth innings.
Sean Buckley crushed a two-run home run to dead center field that traveled 400-feet plus.
Then Kyle Waldrop doubled off the top of the right field wall and Juan Perez doubled to centerfield beating the throw to second.
All of a sudden Pensacola trailed by two runs, 5-3, in the eighth inning and the Blue Wahoos fans at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium finally had something to cheer about in an otherwise dreary game that saw the Blue Wahoos total just three hits in the first seven innings.
However, Biloxi held on, 5-3, to take five of six games in the series after a rally killing double play in the ninth inning. Pinch hitter Marquez Smith worked the count to earn a walk to lead off the ninth. But he was doubled up when second baseman Ryan Wright laced a pop out to second baseman Orlando Arcia in shallow right field that he caught and threw to first to get Smith.
Smith walked toward the umpire and was immediately thrown out. Pensacola Manager Pat Kelly sprinted over from third and was immediately ejected. It was the most noise in the ballpark all night.
“The play wasn’t even close,” Kelly said. “He was safe.”
Although disappointed with another loss to Biloxi, Buckley said it was a relief to smash his first home run of the season.
“I don’t think it’s the farthest one but it’s the first one this year,” he said. “It felt good. I’ve been waiting for that one.”
Kelly also liked seeing his team fight to win until the end of the game against first place Biloxi, which is opening the season on a 55-game road trip until its ballpark finally is completed in June.
“Any time you go over the 400-foot sign you have to give him credit,” Kelly said. “He’s swinging the bat as good as anybody this year.”
Starting pitcher Wandy Peralta also showed some fortitude. After giving up three runs on three hits and three walks in the first inning to Biloxi, including a two-run single by the Shuckers first baseman Nick Ramirez, he settled down. Throwing a mix of off-speed and fastballs, Peralta then struck out seven of the next 10 batters and worked out of two bases loaded jams.
“In the past, emotionally, (Peralta) never would have recovered from a first inning like that,” Kelly said. “He was ambushed in that first inning. But he settled down.
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos travel to play a five-game series April 30-May 4 against the Seattle Mariners Double-A affiliate Jackson (Miss.) Generals. The Blue Wahoos next homestand is May 5-9 against the Chicago Cubs Double-A affiliate Tennessee Smokies.
West Florida Eliminated From 4A State Playoff Series
April 29, 2015
The defending 4A state champion West Florida Lady Jaguars are out of the state playoffs. The Lady Jags lost to the Walton Braves Tuesday 6-0 in the Region 1-4A quarterfinal.
Farrah Nicholas pitched six innings for West Florida, allowing eight hits and six runs while striking out three. Hitting for the Lady Jaguars were Kayla Miller 2-3 and Ealon Pyle 1-2.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Gary Carnley, click to enlarge.
Wahoos Drop Another One To Biloxi Shuckers
April 29, 2015
It was Fat Tuesday at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium but the Biloxi Shuckers did all the partying.
With the stadium decorated in purple, green and gold balloons, the Shuckers had five runs cross the plate in the second inning and the celebration was on. Biloxi, the Southern League South Division leader at 13-6, won the game, 6-2, and now has taken seven of nine from Pensacola (5-13) this season.
Pensacola Manager Pat Kelly credited Josh Smith for coming back and retiring 13 in a row after giving up five runs in the second inning.
“Our bullpen has been pretty taxed the last couple of days,” Kelly said, pointing out reliever Drew Hayes got called up to Triple-A Louisville and Layne Somsen started Sunday. “He became Josh Smith again. That’s the Josh Smith I’ve known and seen the last couple of years.”
Smith ended up throwing seven innings giving up six runs, three earned on six hits, no walks and striking out four.
If Pensacola had turned a double play to begin the second inning, Biloxi would have had no runners on base with two outs. Instead, Biloxi loaded the bases and Nick Shaw doubled to score two runs and Yadiel Rivera singled to score two more. In all five runs crossed the plate.
Rivera, the Milwaukee Brewers No. 13 prospect according to Baseball America, increased his on-base streak to 18 games and is hitting .367.
Blue Wahoos third baseman Seth Mejias-Brean singled to increase his on-base streak to six games. Wahoos shortstop Juan Perez, who had a nine-game hitting streak end Monday, hit a triple and scored his first run of the season on a single by center fielder Beau Amaral.
The Blue Wahoos are hitting .206 as a team, which is 10 points higher than the Jacksonville Suns, in the Southern League.
“Hitting is contagious but so is not hitting,” Kelly said. “These guys really feed off each other. There hasn’t been one guy go in and swing the bat good every time. It just takes somebody getting hot.”
The final game of the six-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate Biloxi Shuckers is scheduled at 6:35 p.m. Wednesday. LHP Wandy Peralta (1-1, 2.30) takes the mound for the Wahoos and is scheduled to be opposed by the Shuckers RHP Jorge Lopez (1-2, 5.25).
Biloxi Beats Wahoos
April 28, 2015
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos may be 5-12 and in last place in the Southern League South Division early in the season but the players definitely do not feel like they are in the dog house yet.
Biloxi Shuckers righty Tyler Wagner hit a two-run home run to right field off of Blue Wahoos right fielder Jesse Winker’s glove in the fourth inning for a 4-2 lead and improved his record to 4-0 to become the Southern League’s first four-game winner. Biloxi (12-6) ended up winning its sixth game in eight contests against Pensacola, 8-2, in front of 3,439 fans during the overcast game.
Pensacola Manager Pat Kelly said he will remind his players that the season is 140 games long.
“It’s a long season and you can’t judge it by the first three weeks,” Kelly said. “Tonight we had a chance. It was 4-2 before we got blown out at the end of the game.”
Biloxi, which sits in first place in the South Division, scored four runs in the fourth and four more runs in the top of the ninth inning with four singles, walk and error.
Wagner, who is the Brewers’ No. 9 prospect according to Baseball America, lofted a deep fly ball that Winker almost caught after playing in on the pitcher. Wagner gave up two earned runs in five innings and struck out five for the win.
The Biloxi pitching staff—loaded with top Milwaukee prospects—entered the game with the fifth best earned run average in all of Minor League Baseball at 2.30.
Wagner had sat down seven Wahoos in a row before walking Winker and Sean Buckley with two outs in the third inning. Waldrop then laced a single to right to score Winker and Seth Mejias-Brean bounced a double over the right field wall to score Buckley for a 2-0 lead.
Blue Wahoos reliever Jacob Johnson said the club house remains positive, despite eight one-run losses, so far, this season. He pitched two innings of scoreless relief.
“I have complete confidence in this team that it’s going to click,” Johnson said. “All of our guys are too good.”
The fifth game of the six-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate Biloxi Shuckers is scheduled at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday.
Blue Wahoos Split Doubleheader With Biloxi
April 27, 2015
A few days ago, reliever Layne Somsen learned he would get the start for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos against the Southern League South-leading Biloxi Shuckers.
His feeling? Relaxed.
Somsen threw five scoreless innings in the second game of Sunday’s doubleheader that Pensacola won, 2-1. Biloxi won the first game, 2-1, to split the day at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
Somsen pitched in front of a sellout crowd—the Blue Wahoos 109th in 210 home appearances and fifth sellout in its first six home appearances this season against the Shuckers.
Somsen laughed when asked if he has been miscast as a reliever during his professional career. He was a starter at South Dakota State when the Wahoos parent club Cincinnati Reds drafted him in 2013.
“You know, (starting) is a different mindset,” Somsen said. “You throw as many strikes as possible and go as far as possible. It’s a more relaxed feeling when you’re starting. In the bullpen, you try to go out there and blow guys away.”
Somsen started the game having pitched eight innings in three relief appearances, allowing one run and striking out 11 hitters. In Sunday’s start, he gave up two hits, a walk and struck out three in five innings.
Blue Wahoos Manager Pat Kelly laughed when asked if Somsen should be groomed as a starter, instead of a reliever. He likes Somsen’s curveball and cut fastballs.
“I think he’s a great swing man,” Kelly said. “He fits that role really good. He can do a lot of things with a baseball.”
The difference in the second game was a big two-out double down into the left field corner that came from pinch hitter Sean Buckley in the fifth inning that scored third baseman Ray Chang from second and put Pensacola ahead, 1-0. Ryan Wright, who went 3-7 Sunday, singled to right field to score Juan Silva for a 2-0 lead. Buckley was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.
In the first game, Buckley had the chance to tie or win the game with a two-out hit in the seventh inning but grounded out to short to end the first game of the doubleheader. In the second game with two outs, he smashed Shuckers’ Jacob Barnes curveball to left.
“You want to be aggressive and get a good pitch,” Buckley said. “Hopefully, I made up for” grounding out in the first game.
The Blue Wahoos had the tying and winning runs on third and second with two out against the Shuckers in the seventh and final inning of Sunday’s first game. But Buckley grounded out. He had tied the game, 1-1, when his single scored Ryan Wright from second base.
That was the first run in eight innings that the Blue Wahoos managed off of Biloxi righty Brooks Hall (3-0) this season. Hall came into the game holding right-handed batters to a .069 batting average but Pensacola hitters managed to go 4-16 or .250 against him. Hall gave up all seven hits in his six innings of work Sunday.
The fourth game of the six-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate Biloxi Shuckers is scheduled at 6:35 p.m. RHP Daniel Wright (0-2, 5.68) takes the mound for the Wahoos and is scheduled to be opposed by the Shuckers RHP Tyler Wagner (3-0, 1.59).
Biloxi Beats The Wahoos
April 26, 2015
Pensacola Blue Wahoos outfielder Jesse Winker hit a deep fly ball to the 400-foot sign in centerfield with his final swing of the game and a runner on second base.
He thought it was a goner. So did manager Pat Kelly and the Blue Wahoos fans.
However, Biloxi Shuckers centerfielder Kyle Wren chased Winker’s shot down to preserve a 4-3 victory over Pensacola. The Wahoos recorded its 108th sellout in its fourth season at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.
“I definitely thought it was gone for sure,” said Winker, the Cincinnati Reds No. 3 prospect who has hit two dingers in his past four-game hitting streak. “I thought I got it. PK (Pat Kelly) wants to win and so do we.”
Kelly, who coached Winker last year in Bakersfield, also thought Winker had a walk-off two-run home run.
“I thought he got it, seeing him hit the past couple years,” Kelly said of Winker. “He came pretty close. He just couldn’t get it over Wren’s head.”
The Blue Wahoos dropped to 4-10 on the season and 1-4 against Biloxi. They are 5.5 games back of the 10-5 and first-place Shuckers.
Pensacola fans came to life in the bottom of the second inning when, not only did the Blue Angels Fat Albert make an unscheduled fly over, the Blue Wahoos loaded the bases with no outs. Stephenson hit a deep fly ball to right field to score Kyle Waldrop to tie the game at 2. Shuckers lefty Brent Suter then walked Wahoos Ryan Wright to put Pensacola ahead, 3-2. Suter struggled in the inning walking four batters, hitting another and allowing a Waldrop single.
However, Shuckers shortstop Orlando Arcia, the Brewers’ No. 2 prospect according to Baseball America, smashed a solo home run over the left field wall in the fifth inning for the game-winning run, 4-3. He leads the Southern League in hitting at .458 (22-48) and has reached base in all 15 Shuckers’ games this season.
Wahoos right fielder Winker prevented Biloxi from adding another run in that inning by gunning down Taylor Green at second base, when he tried to stretch his single to a double.
“I had a bad rap about my defense when I was drafted,” said the 21-year-old Winker, who was the 49th pick overall in the 2012 draft. “But I’ve worked a lot and felt I’ve always been a good defender. I take a lot of pride in my defense.”
The Reds No. 1 prospect, Stephenson, threw 5.2 innings, allowing six hits four runs, two of which were earned, three walks and striking out five. In three starts and 16.2 innings, he has 21 strike outs.
The doubleheader Sunday with the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate Biloxi Shuckers is scheduled at 2:05 p.m. Both games will be seven innings. RHP Tim Adleman (0-2, 2.70) takes the mound for the Wahoos in the first game and is scheduled to be opposed by the Shuckers RHP Brooks Hall (2-0, 1.13). In the second game, RHP Layne Somsen (0-0, 1.13) takes the mound for the Wahoos and is scheduled to be opposed by the Shuckers RHP Jacob Barnes (0-2, 3.72).
Molino 16U Lady Jags Win Mid Season Tournament
April 25, 2015
Both of the Molino 16U Molino softball teams won championships in their mid-season tournaments.
The Lady Jaguars coached by Donnie Nicholson and Mike King advanced to the championship game undefeated. After concluding the day after a five-hour rain delay, the Jags lost the first game of the championship series 5-4 before coming back strong in the second game with an 8-5 win over the East Milton Buckshots.
Pictured: (front, L-R) Sky Gorum and Kaelyn Coffee, (middle) Ashley Ragsdale, Jasmine Crabtree, Trista Loranza, Mika King, Rena Banks, Jamia Newton, Abi Mansoso, (back) Coach Donnie Nicholson, Catherine Jerigene, Meredith Morgan and Coach Mike King. Submitted photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Barons Take Series Over Wahoos
April 25, 2015
Joey DeMichele clinched the series for the Birmingham Barons (7-7) with a line drive to right field in a 2-1 walk-off victory over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (4-9) at Regions Field.
RHP Raul Fernandez (1-1) got the win for the Barons while RHP Chad Rogers (0-1) got his first loss of the season after the run, one walk and two hits in the ninth.
In the third inning, the Barons’ Jeremy Farrell reached base on a fielding error by second baseman Juan Perez and then advanced to second. With a wild pitch by LHP Wandy Peralta, Farrell advanced to third and then scored off of a single by Jacob May.
The Blue Wahoos tied up the game in the seventh inning. Smith led off the inning with a single and scored after Yovan Gonzalez grounded into a double play.
Juan Perez singled in the ninth inning to extend his hit streak to six games.
Peralta made his third start of the season and pitched for six innings registering six strikeouts, five hits and an unearned run. RHP Drew Hayes posted two scoreless innings of work with two hits. He has now thrown 5.2 innings allowing no runs this season.
For the Barons, RHP Tyler Danish gave up only three hits in six innings of work while recording seven strikeouts. RHP Nolan Sanburn gave up the lone Pensacola run. Fernandez threw four strikeouts in his two innings as Birmingham struck out 12 Blue Wahoos.
The Blue Wahoos return to Pensacola April 25th-29th against the Biloxi Shuckers.
Northview Chiefs Win District 1A Championship (With Photo Gallery)
April 24, 2015
The Northview Chiefs captured their first District 1A title as they destroyed Chipley 11-1 Thursday night in Bonifay.
Brett Weeks pitched six innings for the Chiefs, allowing just one run and striking out seven. Hitting for Northview were: Chasen Freeman 3-4, 2 runs, double; Thomas Moore 2-4, 5 RBIs, 2 doubles; Roman Manning 2-4, run, RBI, double; Bryan Cantrell 1-3, run, 2 SBs; Brodie Amos 1-1, run; Aaron McDonald 1-4.
Northview will next host the winner of Friday’s Bozeman vs. Liberty County game.
The Chiefs won a 2A district title in 2004.
For a photo gallery, click here.
Photos by Ramona Preston for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
West Florida Lady Jags Win Regional Quarterfinal Over Florida High
April 24, 2015
The West Florida Lady Jaguars beat Florida High in Tallahassee 8-4 Thursday in the Region 1-4A quarterfinals.
Hitting for West Florida were Kayla Miller, 1-2; Emily Loring 2-2, RBI; Lauren Carnley 1-4, RBI; Kristin Gunter 2-3, 3 RBI; Jibrasha Moore 1-2, RBI; Bre Rogers 1-2, Farrah Nicholas 2-4. Nicholas pitched seven innings for West Floroida, allowing four funs, 10 hits and striking out one.
West Florida will play at Walton on Tuesday in the regional semi-finals.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Gary Carnley, click to enlarge.
