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SL Mississippi Braves

Game Info: Saturday, July 13 vs. Birmingham Barons: 6:05 PM: Trustmark Park

July 13, 2024 - Southern League (SL)
Mississippi Braves News Release


Mississippi Braves (7-9, 38-46) vs. Birmingham Barons (6-10, 47-38)

Saturday, July 13, 2024 - 6:05 PM - Trustmark Park - Pearl, MS

Game 85 of 137 - 2nd Half Game 17 of 69 - Home Game 38 of 63

Starting Pitchers: RHP David Fletcher (0-2, 5.63) vs. RHP Riley Gowens (0-0, 0.00)

Watch Live: Bally Live / MiLB.TV / MLB At Bat

Listen Live: 102.1 The Box

Today's Promotions

Post-Game Fireworks: Stay after the game for the Country Western-themed Post-Game Fireworks Show presented by Farm Families of Mississippi.

Florence Community Night: Florence Community Night salutes local businesses and leaders who allow each to thrive.

Recent Roster Moves

7/12: RHP Landon Harper transferred from Mississippi to High-A Rome

TODAY'S GAME: The M-Braves continue their nine-game homestand and face the Birmingham Barons in game five of a six-game series on Saturday night at Trustmark Park. This is the second and final series between the two clubs in 2024. Birmingham won five of six from the M-Braves at Regions Field on April 16-21.

ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The Barons evened the series on Friday night with a 7-4 victory over the M- Braves at Trustmark Park. Cal Conley continued his hot series by going 2-for-4 with two runs, and Keshawn Ogans and Yolbert Sanchez increased their streaks. One night after a 2-0 game in 2 hours, game four of the set on Friday night included nine walks, four hit batsmen, and eight combined pitchers. Conley is now 8-for-16 with six stolen bases and four runs this week. Ogans was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning to extend his season-high on-base streak to 16 games. The streak began on June 2.

CLOSING IN ON STOLEN BASE RECORD: The M-Braves lead all of Double-A in stolen bases with 151 (151-for-183, 83%) through 84 games. Four players have reached 24+ steals. Justin Dean leads the way and is T-1st in the league with 34. Geraldo Quintero is T-5th with 29, Cody Milligan is 10th with 24, and Cal Conley is 8th with 27 ... Nacho Alvarez had 16 at the time of his promotion to Triple-A. Mississippi had 157 stolen bases last season and is on pace for 246 (1.80 per game) in 2024. The most by an M-Braves team was 159 in 2007.

DE AVILA IS DEALIN': LHP Luis De Avila dealt his team-leading ninth quality start of the season on Thursday night with 7.0 shutout innings and matching a career-high with 11 strikeouts. In his last six starts since June 2, De Avila leads the Southern League with a 1.66 ERA (38.0 IP/9 ER), 32 strikeouts, and nine walks. During that time period, he ranks among the league leaders in opponents' batting average (3rd, .191), WHIP (4th, 0.92), and strikeouts (T-5th, 32).

START ME UP: The M-Braves' starting pitchers have a 3.52 ERA, ranking them 7th in Double-A. They lead Double-A with five complete games and T-1st with three complete game shutouts.

SHUTOUTS: The Mississippi pitching staff has shut out the Barons twice this week and is T-1st in the Double-A and T-2nd among full-season Minor League teams with 11 shutouts this season.

OGANS EXTENDS STREAK...SO DOES SANCHEZ: Infielder Keshawn Ogans was hit by a pitch again on Friday night and is on a 16-game on-base streak that began on June 9, batting .296 with two doubles, four RBI, eight runs, four walks, three HBP, and three steals. It's the longest on-base streak by an M-Brave this season.

Yolbert Sanchez increased his hitting streak to nine games on Friday night. During the streak, which began on June 26, Sanchez is batting .303 with 10 hits, one double, four RBI, and three runs.

COUNTIN' ON CAL: Infielder Cal Conley recorded his second career four hit game on Tuesday night, finishing 4-for-5 with a run, and stolen base. Conley has hit in all four games this week and is 8-for-16 with four runs, two walks, and six stolen bases.

TO THE TOP...OF THE LONGEST SCORELESS STREAKS: Pearl River CC and Southern Miss product Landon Harper hasn't allowed a run over his last nine outings and 20.0 innings pitched, dating back to June 2. The 20.0 innings without a run are the third-longest in the Southern League this season and the longest currently. Overall, Harper is 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA, one walk, 21 strikeouts, one walk, 0.78 WHIP, and has held the opposition to a .183 average in nine games.

THE MEJIA MAGIC: Mississippi's opening-day starter leads the Southern League with two shutouts and ranks among the league leaders in ERA (4th, 2.40), wins (T-1st, 7), strikeouts (6th, 85), WHIP (5th, 1.11), and opponent's batting average (5th, .209). Mejia set a new club record, not allowing a run over 30.1 innings from April 28 to May 5. Mejia was named Southern League Pitcher of the Month for May and was 4-0, not allowing a run in 26.2 innings, five walks to 30 strikeouts. In five starts at Trustmark Park, Mejia is 5-0 with a 0.69 ERA, seven walks, and 32 strikeouts. When Mejia takes the mound, the Mississippi Braves are 13-2 in his 15 starts.

THE JUCO BANDIT HAD A GREAT JUNE: Cody Milligan homered in back-to-back games on June 25-26 for the first time as an M-Brave and had three multi-hit games in the Montgomery series. The Binger, OK native, went 9-for-24 with two doubles, two homers, four RBI, three runs, and two stolen bases in the June 25-30 series. In June, Milligan hit .300 and was T-5th in the league with 11 extra-base hits, plus eight RBI, five walks, and six stolen bases. His .538 slugging percentage ranked seventh in the league.

"MAY" BE A GOOD SIGN...NO JUNE SWOON: After going 7-15 in April, the M-Braves went 28-26 the past two months, completing a 16-10 May and 12-14 June. The 16 wins in May were the fifth-most in Double-A. The Mississippi pitching staff gave up the second-fewest runs in Double-A (86) during the month and posted a 3.19 ERA.

(FORMER) ANGEL IN THE INFIELD...AND PITCHING: David Fletcher joined the M-Braves roster on June 2 as a two-way player... Through six starts as a knuckleball pitcher is 0-2 with a 5.63 ERA (20 ER/32.0 IP), 14 walks, seven strikeouts, three quality starts and pitching into the sixth inning in five outings ... The former Major League infielder has a career .276 batting average with 16 home runs, 170 RBI, and 560 hits over seven seasons and 539 MLB games ... He has played for the LA Angels (2018-23) and Atlanta Braves (2024) ... Fletcher appeared in five games for Atlanta this season in April. He made his first five pitching appearances for Gwinnett this season and appeared in 39 games as a position player. Atlanta received Fletcher via trade with the Angels in exchange for 1B Evan White and LHP Tyler Thomas (12/8/23).

DE AVILA DEALIN' IN JUNE...NAME SL PITCHER OF THE WEEK: The 2023 Southern League Postseason All-Star, Luis De Avila, ranked 3rd in the Southern League with a 1.74 ERA (31.0 IP/6 ER) in five June starts with nine walks to 23 strikeouts. The opposition hit .182 against him. The Columbia native was named SL Pitcher of the Week on July 1 for his June 28 start vs. Montgomery, pitching 7.0 innings of two-hit baseball, striking out a season-high seven, and walking none. In his last six starts since June 1, De Avila ranks 4th in the Southern League with a 2.19 ERA (37.0 IP/9 ER).

M-BRAVES TO THE SHOW: RHP Tanner Gordon became the seventh M-Brave alum to make their major league debut on July 9 for Colorado. Gordon joined Roddery Munoz (4/20, MIA), Tyler Ferguson (5/7, OAK), Spencer Schwellenbach (5/29), Justyn-Henry Malloy (6/3, DET), Hurston Waldrep (6/9), and C.J. Alexander (6/24, KC). The right-hander was the 172nd Mississippi player to make their major league debut and the 24th to be promoted directly from Double-A. Michael Harris II and Vaughn Grisson were promoted from Mississippi to Atlanta in 2022. Max Fried was the last pitcher to be promoted from the M-Braves roster in 2019. Overall, 175 former M-Braves have gone on to make their Major League debut.

WALDREP TO THE SHOW: RHP Hurston Waldrep was promoted to Triple-A Gwinnett on May 8, and after just one start in Triple-A, he made his major league debut on June 9 at Washington. He was the 173rd player to move from Mississippi to "The Show." The Atlanta Braves' first-round pick in 2023 (24th overall) went 3-1 with a 1.19 ERA from Mississippi in May, with 31 strikeouts to seven walks.

MEJIA TOSSES FIFTH NO-HITTER IN M-BRAVES HISTORY: RHP Ian Mejia's seven-inning no-hitter in game two of the Friday, May 17 doubleheader vs. Biloxi was the fifth no-hitter in M-Braves history, and first individual one since Tommy Hanson's nine-inning no-hitter on June 25, 2008, vs. Birmingham at Trustmark Park. The M-Braves beat the Barons 6-0, and Hanson walked three and struck out 14 in the game. There have been three combined nine-inning no-hitters in team history (Julio Teheran & Tyrelle Harris, 8/2/10 vs. Mobile, Ian Anderson & Jeremy Walker, 6/28/19 vs. Jackson (TN), and Bryce Elder & Daysbel Hernandez, 7/10/21 vs. Pensacola.

FINAL SEASON IN MISSISSIPPI: On January 9, it was announced that after 20 years, 2024 will be the M-Braves' final season in Pearl, MS. As of the start of the 2025 season, the Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves will be relocating to Columbus, GA.

M-BRAVES REACH 1,200 WINS: The April 25, 13-3 win over Montgomery was Mississippi's 1,200th in franchise history. It took the M-Braves until the sixth game of the inaugural season in 2005 to win the first game in club history, which was an April 12, 2005, 7-4 win over the West Tenn Diamond Jaxx in game two of a doubleheader at Pringles Park. Jeff Francoeur was 0-for-3, with a walk and RBI, in the game, using a five-run sixth fueled by RBIs by Scott Thorman, Francoeur, and Derrick Gibson. Brian O'Connor got the win for Mississippi.

COACHING STAFF WITH A NEW FLO: After spending one season as manager of the Braves High-A affiliate Rome Braves (Emperors), Angel Flores will take the reins for the first time at the Double-A level, succeeding Kanekoa Texeira. Texeira was promoted to manager of the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers after Matt Tuiasosopo was named to the Braves' Major League coaching staff for 2024. Flores returns to Mississippi, where he served as bench coach in 2022. Flores took over as interim manager from April 26 to May 15, 2022, while Bruce Crabbe took a leave of absence from the club. During the 18-game stretch, the M-Braves went 10-8. During his first season as a full-time manager last year, Flores led the R-Braves to a 34-32 record in the second half and an overall 64-68 mark. Rome closed the year with a 21-15 record in August and September. Overall, he holds a 74-76 record as a manager.

FINAL SEASON IN MISSISSIPPI: On January 9, it was announced that after 20 years, 2024 will be the M-Braves' final season in Pearl, MS. As of the start of the 2025 season, the Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves will be relocating to Columbus, GA.

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