SL1 Pensacola Blue Wahoos

M-Braves Sink Wahoos 9-4 with Big Eighth Inning

Published on April 18, 2018 under Southern League (SL1)
Pensacola Blue Wahoos News Release


Pearl, Miss. - The Blue Wahoos and M-Braves were tied with one out in the eighth inning until Mississippi scored five runs to take Wednesday's contest 9-4.

With runners at first and third, Cleuluis Rondon bunted a safety squeeze back to the pitcher, Brennan Bernardino, who couldn't field it cleanly allowing Austin Riley to score. With the Braves leading 5-4, Bernardino did well to strike out Connor Lien but then allowed a double to Luis Valenzuela and a home run to Tyler Marlette to make it 9-4.

The loss doesn't tarnish what was a fine outing for Vladimir Gutierrez, who pitched six innings and allowed only three runs. After a bumpy first inning where Gutierrez allowed a couple of runs, the Wahoos starter looked comfortable allowing just three baserunners over the rest of his outing.

Austin Riley dealt more punishment to the Wahoos this series going 3-for-4 on Wednesday, with two triples. In this series, Riley is now hitting .583 (7-for-12) with four RBI.

Pensacola used the long ball to power the offense for most of the afternoon. Taylor Sparks tied the game at 2-2 when he belted his first home run of the season off M-Braves starter Touki Toussaint. It appeared the Wahoos would pull away in the fifth when Nick Longhi's two-run shot put Pensacola ahead 4-2. However, Riley's second triple of the game in the bottom of the fifth pulled one back for Mississippi and in the seventh Luis Valenzuela's pinch-hit home run tied it up at 4-4.

Aristides Aquino made it back-to-back games with an RBI with his first inning groundout that gave the Wahoos a 1-0 lead. Luiz Gonzalez also had another fine performance since joining the Wahoos from Daytona going 2-for-3 with a double. Shed Long also extended his on-base streak to 11 games with his first-inning single (also has a concurrent six-game hitting streak).

Pensacola will give the ball to Jesus Reyes (0-2, 9.45) who looks to clinch a series win for the Blue Wahoos. His opponent is 25-year old Wes Parsons (0-0, 1.35) who has only pitched just under seven innings this season for Mississippi. First pitch is slated for 7:00 PM CT and can be heard on 97.1 The Ticket and on Bluewahoos.com through the TuneIn app.

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Southern League Stories from April 18, 2018


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