SL1 Pensacola Blue Wahoos

Pensacola Drops Series Finale to Suns

September 1, 2016 - Southern League (SL1)
Pensacola Blue Wahoos News Release


PENSACOLA, Fla. - The Pensacola Blue Wahoos head into its last five games Thursday against the Birmingham Barons, chasing the Mississippi Braves for the Southern League South Division second half title.

After winning the first four games of the series against visiting Jacksonville, the Suns picked up a win in the finale, 4-1, in front of 4,277 at Blue Wahoos Stadium. Pensacola reached 302,340 in attendance for the season, which is the fifth straight year it surpassed 300,000 since its inaugural year in 2012.

Pensacola, which already captured the first half winning a franchise record 41 games, is 1.5 games behind Mississippi, which defeated the Chattanooga Lookouts, 6-2. The Braves are 36-28 (70-63), while Pensacola dropped to 35-30 (76-58).

Blue Wahoos manager Pat Kelly congratulated the Blue Wahoos fans and its front office on drawing more than 300,000 fans for five consecutive seasons.

"That's a great accomplishment," Kelly said. "Usually, you have a honeymoon period because it's the new thing in town. This has been great."

The highlight for Pensacola fans besides the attendance was Pensacola second baseman Brandon Dixon hitting a bullet over the right field fence in the sixth inning for his second homer in the five-game series.

The solo shot was his 16th of the season, which is fourth in the Southern League. With five games left in the season, Dixon is one behind the franchise record of 17 homers clobbered by outfielder Juan Duran in 2014.

Kelly said Dixon, who went 3-4 and is hitting .373 in August to lift his season average to .265, liked watching the home run rocket over the right field fence. He's also liked being able to play Dixon in all three outfield positions and second and first base.

"That's a great sign, if he can hit a ball to right field like that," Kelly said.

Pensacola Blue Wahoos starter Nick Travieso started the game out strong walking one to start the game and then retiring the next six batters with two strikeouts.

However, the Jacksonville Suns scored four runs on five hits and a walk, sending all nine batters to the plate. The first two runs scored when Jacksonville left fielder Austin Dean doubled into the left field corner. Suns second baseman Derek Dietrich, doing a MLB rehab, scored when center fielder Kenny Wilson grounded out to second. Jacksonville first baseman Chris Curley then singled to left field to score third baseman Brian Anderson to put the Suns up, 4-0.

Travieso developed bronchitis and has had trouble breathing. He stopped the game with two outs in the fourth inning and threw a warm up pitch for Pensacola manager Pat Kelly, pitching coach Danny Darwin and trainer Tyler Moos. He then struck out Dietrich to end the inning.

"He couldn't catch his breath and panicked a little bit," Kelly said. "We got him to relax. "He just had that one bad inning."

Travieso, who struck out seven over six innings, lost the game, dropping to 4-7 with a 4.10 ERA. He last won July 8 against the Mobile BayBears when he threw a two hitter in six scoreless innings.

Kelly said he's been resting his starters the past two weeks in preparation for the playoffs. He said he will make adjustments in the last series of the season against Birmingham to get ready.

"If we win (the division) great, if not we at least get the first two games at home," Kelly said. "To me, this is the time to ramp up and get ready for the playoffs."

GAME NOTES

Pensacola travels to play a five-game series at 7:05 p.m. Thursday against the Chicago White Sox Double-A affiliate Birmingham Barons. Pitching for the Barions is RHP Nolan Sanburn (1-4, 3.03), who will face Blue Wahoos RHP Tyler Mahle (6-3, 4.39).

The games are broadcast live on the Blue Wahoos flagship station 97.1 The Ticket. Listen for free at bluewahoos.com and by using the TuneIn Radio app on your mobile, desktop or home devices. Stream Wahoos games on MiLB.TV, a subscription-based service provided by Minor League Baseball.

BIG FISH Second baseman Brandon Dixon went 3-4 with a solo home run and now has 27 multi-hit games on the season...Right fielder Sebastian Elizalde went 1-4...First baseman Eric Jagielo went 1-4...Third baseman Taylor Sparks went 1-3 with a walk.

Pensacola is heading to the Southern League playoffs and will be home Sept. 7 and 8! Blue Wahoos tickets are available for purchase at Hill-Kelly Dodge Pick-Up Window and by calling (850) 934-8444. Follow the team at BlueWahoos.com, facebook.com/PensacolaBlueWahoos and twitter.com/BlueWahoosBBall.

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Southern League Stories from September 1, 2016


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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