Late Pensacola Rally Spoils Excellent Outing from Burkhalter in Series Finale Loss

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SL Columbus Clingstones

Late Pensacola Rally Spoils Excellent Outing from Burkhalter in Series Finale Loss

April 20, 2025 - Southern League (SL)
Columbus Clingstones News Release


COLUMBUS, Ga., - Atlanta Braves' No. 15 prospect Blake Burkhalter was spectacular for the Columbus Clingstones (6-8) for the second time in this series, but the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (11-4) rode a three-run eighth inning to take a late lead and hand Columbus a 5-3 loss on Sunday afternoon at Synovus Park. Columbus lost the series 4-2.

Decisive Plays: An RBI single from Nathan Martorella gave Pensacola an early advantage in the first inning. The Clingstones tied the game on a bases-loaded walk drawn by Keshawn Ogans in the second and led 2-1 after an RBI single from Ethan Workinger in the third.

The Blue Wahoos took advantage of costly Clingstones errors in the eighth inning, as Workinger recorded an error in right field as part of a two-run single that made it 3-2, Pensacola. Another throwing error by catcher Adam Zebrowski scored another run for Pensacola. Drew Compton smacked an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth, but Columbus could not mount another comeback in this series on Sunday, falling 5-3.

Key Contributors: Burkhalter (5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO) continued a tremendous week of starting pitching for the Clingstones. At the plate, Columbus got RBIs from Ogans, Workinger, and Compton. Pensacola got its RBIs from Mark Coley II, Jared Serna, and Martorella.

Noteworthy: Burkhalter tied Lucas Braun and Jhancarlos Lara for the most strikeouts by an individual pitcher with nine on Sunday. Columbus drops to 0-2 in series finales. The Clingstones' 14 strikeouts as a staff also tied their season high of 14 from April 5 at Montgomery.

Next Game (Tuesday, April 22): Columbus at Chattanooga, 7:15 pm ET at AT&T Field. Radio Broadcast: 7:00 pm ET.

Next Home Game (Tuesday, April 29): Columbus vs. Biloxi, 7:05 pm ET at Synovus Park. It's the first Take Two Tuesday at Synovus Park, as fans can buy one concession item and get specific items free throughout the game.

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