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SL Mississippi Braves

Game Info: Saturday, June 29 vs. Montgomery Biscuits: 6:05 PM: Trustmark Park

June 29, 2024 - Southern League (SL)
Mississippi Braves News Release


Mississippi Braves (3-1, 34-38) vs. Montgomery Biscuits (1-3, 41-32)

Friday, June 29, 2024 - 6:05 PM - Trustmark Park - Pearl, MS

Game 73 of 137 - 2nd Half Game 5 of 69 - Home Game 29 of 63

Starting Pitchers: RHP David Fletcher (0-1, 3.86) vs. RHP Cole Wilcox (4-2, 3.52)

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

Listen Live: 102.1 The Box

Recent Roster Moves

6/28: INF Keshawn Ogans reinstated from the 7-day Injured List

Today's Promotions:

Disability Awareness Night & Jersey Auction: The M-Braves partner with the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services for an in-park Jersey Auction and Awareness Night. Post-Game Fireworks: Stay after the game for an Island Themed Post-Game Fireworks show presented by the Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services.

TODAY'S GAME: The Mississippi Braves and Montgomery Biscuits continue a six-game series on Saturday night at Trustmark Park. This is the third of four series between the clubs this season. The final series will be July 23-28 at Montgomery. This is the second meeting at Trustmark Park this season, with Montgomery taking five of six, May 28 to June 2.

ABOUT FRIDAY: Luis De Avila delivered 7.0 shutout innings for the second time in three starts on Friday night, but the Montgomery Biscuits rallied for two runs in the ninth to beat the Mississippi Braves 2-1 at Trustmark Park. The loss stopped Mississippi's four-game winning streak that began on Sunday in Tennessee. De Avila lowered his ERA in June to 1.74 over five starts after his 7.0 innings of two-hit baseball against the Biscuits. The 22-year-old lefty from Columbia struck out a season-high seven and walked none, firing 89 pitches (59 strikes) in his 14th start of the year. De Avila faced just one over the minimum and retired 21 of 23 batters. Cody Milligan recorded his third-straight multi-hit game by going 2-for-4 with a double.

THE JUCO BANDIT HAS POWER: Cody Milligan homered in back-to-back games on Tuesday and Wednesday for the first time as an M-Brave and has three-straight multi-hit games. It was the first time an M-Braves player has gone deep in back-to-back games at Trustmark Park this season and the first since June 10-11, 2023, by Tyler Tolve. The Binger, OK native, is 8-for-14 in the series with two doubles and two home runs. In June, Milligan is batting .319 with 11 extra-base hits, eight RBI, five walks, and six stolen bases.

(FORMER) ANGEL IN THE INFIELD...AND PITCHING: David Fletcher is having his best offensive series since joining the M-Braves from Triple-A Gwinnett on May 1. The two-way player is 6-for-10 with a double, four runs, two walks, and two stolen bases ... Through four starts as a knuckleball pitcher, Fletcher is 0-1 with a 3.86 ERA)10 ER/23.1 IP), eight walks, six strikeouts, and .241 BAA, two quality starts and pitching into the sixth inning in all four 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: The 2023 Southern League Postseason All-Star, Luis De Avila, ranks third 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 is batting .182 against him this month.

GERALDO HEROICS: Geraldo Quintero capped his big series at Tennessee at Tennessee last week with a career-high 5-for-5 day at the plate in Mississippi's 9-7 win in Sunday's series finale. Quintero finished the week 9-for-18 with two doubles, a triple, a home run, three RBI, seven runs, five stolen bases, and 1.439 OPS in six games. The switch-hitter from Venezuela now ranks second on the club and 3rd in the Southern League with 28 stolen bases. In 20 June games, Quintero is batting .281 with nine extra-base hits, 13 RBI, 11 stolen bases, and a .883 OPS.

NEED FOR SPEED: The M-Braves lead all of Double-A in stolen bases with 133 (134-for-162) through 72 games. Five players have reached double-digit steals. Justin Dean leads the way and is 2nd in the league with 29. Geraldo Quintero is 3rd with 28, Cody Milligan is T-7th with 23, and Cal Conley is 12th with 19 ... 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 253 (1.85 per game) in 2024. The most by an M-Braves team was 159 in 2007.

HOME SWEET HOME: The M-Braves return to Trustmark Park this week for the first time since a series, May 27 to July 2 against the Montgomery Biscuits. The M-Braves went 8-9 over a 17-game road trip to Pensacola, Rocket City, and Tennessee from June 4 to June 23. The M-Braves are in the midst of playing 15 of 18 games at Trustmark Park.

ROSTER MOVEMENT: On Tuesday, the Atlanta Braves promoted Mississippi RHP Domingo Gonzalez and LHP Hayden Harris to Triple-A Gwinnett. LHP Mitch Farris was transferred to Rome from Mississippi. The M-Braves added starting pitchers RHP Drue Hackenberg and RHP Lucas Braun from High-A Rome.

START ME UP: The M-Braves' starting pitchers have a 3.39 ERA, ranking them 6th in Double-A. They are leading Double-A with five complete games and T-1st with three complete game shutouts.

ROAD WARRIORS: After starting the season 6-14 on the road, the M-Braves are 15-9 over their last 24 games away from Trustmark Park, including a 4-1 mark in a home-away-from-home series at Toyota Field, June 13-16. They won a club record nine straight games away from Pearl from May 12 to June 5. The streak included a six-game sweep in Chattanooga, May 21-26.

MOVING ON UP: Since May 29, four M-Braves have been promoted to a higher level, and two are currently on the Atlanta major league roster ... RHP Spencer Schwellenbach was promoted directly to Atlanta on 5/29 ... RHP Hurston Waldrep was promoted to Triple-A Gwinnett on 6/1, and then Atlanta on 6/9 ... C Drake Baldwin (6/11) and INF Nacho Alvarez Jr. (5/12) were promoted to Triple-A Gwinnett this last week.

"MAY" BE A GOOD SIGN: After going 7-15 in April, the M-Braves completed a 16-10 May. 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. In May, starters Ian Mejia, Spencer Schwellenbach, and Hurston Waldrep combined to go 9-1 with a 0.51 ERA, four runs allowed over 70.1 innings pitched, 13 walks to 78 strikeouts.

THE MEJIA MAGIC: Ian 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 four starts at Trustmark Park, Mejia hasn't given up a run in 27 innings. When Ian Mejia takes the mound, the Mississippi Braves are 10-2 in his 12 starts. Mississippi's opening-day starter leads the Southern League with two shutouts and ranks among the league leaders in ERA (5th, 2.45), wins (T-2nd, 6), strikeouts (T-5th, 76), WHIP (6th, 1.09), and opponent's batting average (6th, .202). Mejia set a new club record, not allowing a run over 30.1 innings from April 28 to May 5.

M-BRAVES SWEEP CHATTANOOGA: The six-game sweep of Chattanooga, May 21-26, was the second by an M-Braves team and first since a six-game sweep of Rocket City July 12-17, 2022. The M-Braves scored 39 runs over the six games with no home runs but 18 doubles, one triple, a .299 batting average, and a .371 OBP. Nacho Alvarez hit .370 (10x27) with a double, two RBI, four runs, a walk, and three steals.

SCHWELLY TO THE SHOW: Atlanta Braves No. 3 overall prospect Spencer Schwellenbach had his contract selected by the Atlanta Braves on May 29. He made his MLB debut on May 29 vs. Washington (5.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO). Schwellenbach is the second M-Braves alum to make their major league debut this season, joining Tyler Ferguson, who debuted for Oakland on May 7. The right-hander is the 171st 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.

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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