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SL1 Mississippi Braves

Neslony, Braves Split with Smokies on Saturday Night

April 8, 2018 - Southern League (SL1)
Mississippi Braves News Release


PEARL, MS - On a cold and damp Saturday night at Trustmark Park, the Mississippi Braves, and Tennessee Smokies split two games with Tennessee taking Friday's suspended game 7-2 and the M-Braves coming from behind to win the nightcap, 7-5. Tyler Neslony ended the night 3-for-7 in two games with a double and three RBI and is batting .455 through three games.

After dropping game one of the series on Thursday, the Smokies redeemed themselves in game two of the series. Smokies reliever Zach Hedges (1-0) earned his first win of the season, while M-Braves (2-1) starter Touki Toussaint (0-1) suffered his first loss. Before the game was suspended on Friday, Tennessee (1-2) scored a run in the first and three more in the second against Toussaint to take a 4-1 lead. Alex Jackson plated a run with an RBI single in the first to briefly tie the game, but Tennessee took the lead in the second and never looked back. Jackson finished the first game 2-for-4 with two RBI after notching another run-scoring single in the eighth.

Despite the loss, Braves' pitchers recorded 16 strikeouts, including six from Enderson Franco over 2.1 innings of relief. Jacob Webb struck out four and Adam McCreery fanned two with each logging two innings of scoreless relief.

After falling behind 4-0 in the second in Saturday's regularly scheduled game, the M-Braves rallied for seven unanswered runs. Tyler Marlette started the scoring with a solo home run down the right-field line in the bottom of the second inning to pull the club within three at 4-1.

The Braves added two more runs in the third on RBI singles from Austin Riley and Neslony. The big inning was the fifth as Neslony struck again with the bases loaded, plating two with his second hit of the game to the Braves on top 5-4. Two batters later, Luis Valenzuela scorched a two-run single of his own to make it a 7-4 contest.

Three M-Braves collected doubles in the nightcap, Michael Reed , Daniel Lockhart , and Riley. Reed's double kickstarted the fifth inning in which ten batters came to the plate.

Neslony went 2-for-3 at the plate in game two and provided three of the seven M-Braves RBI's.

The M-Braves bullpen combined for 5.1 innings of one-run baseball after starter Wesley Parsons was lifted after just 1.2. Corbin Clouse entered the game for Parsons in the second inning and logged five strikeouts over 2.1 innings. Josh Graham (1-0) came into the game in relief of Clouse, making his second appearance of the season and earned the win. Jason Hursh was credited with the save after slamming the door shut in the seventh, notching two more strikeouts. After recording two strikeouts, Hursh needs just two strikeouts to become the all-time strikeout leader in Mississippi Braves history.

Game four of the five-game homestand is on Sunday afternoon at 1:00 pm. LHP Max Fried will make his first start of 2018 for the M-Braves opposite RHP Oscar De La Cruz for the Smokies. Sunday is the first Mugshots FamilyFest Sunday of the season and after the game, its Kids Run The Bases presented by Launch Trampoline Park. For tickets log on to mississippibraves.com/tickets or call 888-BRAVES4.

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Southern League Stories from April 8, 2018


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