SL1 Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp

Brilliant Bullpen, Two-Out Magic Spark 3-0 Suns Win

Published on May 18, 2014 under Southern League (SL1)
Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp News Release


PENSACOLA, FL - The Jacksonville Suns (21-22) used brilliant relief efforts from Tyler Higgins, Greg Nappo and Nick Wittgren as well as some late two-out magic to earn a 3-0 shutout win over the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (18-26) on Sunday at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.

Listen to manager Andy Barkett's postgame comments here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?vny7KBuwW3O0

Angel Sanchez retired the Blue Wahoos in order in the bottom of the first but was lifted from the game after Travis Mattair's comebacker to begin the bottom of the second struck Sanchez in his midsection.

Tyler Higgins came on to throw five brilliant scoreless innings in relief of Sanchez. Higgins only allowed three hits in his best outing of the year, while walking a pair of batters and finishing with four strikeouts.

Greg Nappo (W, 2-0) earned the win after allowing one hit over two innings of scoreless ball, with Nick Wittgren (SV, 6) locking down his sixth save of the year after working a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth inning.

Blue Wahoos starter Michael Lorenzen worked five no-hit innings to begin the ballgame but was removed for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the fifth inning. Elvin Ramirez threw two scoreless innings in relief of Lorenzen before Shane Dyer (L, 0-2) took the loss after allowing three runs (all earned) on four hits in his two innings of work.

It took until the sixth inning for the Suns to muster up their first hit of the ballgame when Austin Nola ripped a one-out single into center field.

The game remained scoreless until the top of the eighth inning when the Suns broke through first. The Suns had their first two batters on the frame retired, before Austin Nola ripped his fifth double of the series to extend the inning. Nola came around to score on an RBI single by Brady Shoemaker to give the Suns a 1-0 lead.

Wilfredo Gimenez followed up Shoemaker's knock by driving him in with a ringing double to left to put the Suns in front by a 2-0 score in the top of the eighth.

Alex Burg (HR, 2) led off the top of the ninth inning with a solo home run to left to extend the lead to 3-0 in favor of the Suns.

After going 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored on Sunday, Austin Nola now has a multi-hit game in each of the four games of this series and is 9-for-16 with five doubles, one triple, four RBI and five runs scored.

The Suns and Blue Wahoos will be back at it on Monday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Suns will send out the left-hander Justin Nicolino (2-2, 3.32), while the Blue Wahoos are set to counter with a right-hander of their own in Mikey O'Brien (2-2, 3.33).

Suns fans can listen to Monday's game on the Suns Baseball Network, 94.1 WSOS-FM or throughwww.jaxsuns.com, MiLB.com or the Suns iPhone or Android app, beginning at 7:15 p.m. ET with the Memorial Hospital Suns Pregame Show.

The 2014 season of Suns baseball is presented by EverBank, the official banking partner of the Jacksonville Suns. Sponsorships, group outings, and season / individual game tickets are currently available by calling the Suns front office at (904) 358-2846.

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Southern League Stories from May 18, 2014


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