Jacksonville Edges Pensacola Blue Wahoos 5-4 In 10 Innings

July 18, 2012


Suns catcher Kyle Skipworth blasted two home runs and Blue Wahoos shortstop Billy Hamilton stole his 110th base of the season, while four Jacksonville relievers combined to yield just two hits over the final four innings to push the Suns to a 5-4 extra-inning victory on Tuesday night at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.

Jacksonville with the win improved to 12-14 in the second half, while the Fish fell to 15-11 since the league’s All-Star Break. The defeat combined with a Montgomery victory means the two teams are now tied for first in the South Division. Before the game, Woodham High School grad and current Brooklyn Nets forward Reggie Evans was on hand to throw out a ceremonial first pitch.

The Blue Wahoos and Suns combined for four longballs in the contest, with Skipworth launching a two-run shot in the second before striking the videoboard in right field with a solo blast two innings later. Six of Skipworth’s ten roundtrippers this year have come against Pensacola.

LF Donald Lutz and 3B David Vidal each left the yard for the Fish, with Lutz’s big fly coming in his first at bat with the club after being promoted from High-A Bakersfield earlier in the day. Lutz launched 17 longballs for the Blaze before joining Pensacola, while the roundtripper for Vidal was his fifth of 2012.

Hamilton reached on an infield single in the fifth before swiping his 110th base of the year, which ties him for the eighth highest single-season steal total in Minor League Baseball history with Maynard DeWitt’s mark from 1946. Hamilton, who is now 35 steaks away from Vince Coleman’s top mark of 145, would then come across on CF Ryan LaMarre’s RBI single to draw the contest even at 3-3.

The Suns however, answered back in the seventh when 1B Ben Lasater singled and moved to second on a free pass before being sent home on CF Donnie Webb’s run-scoring single to right. The Fish would then tie it again in the next inning when LF Josh Fellhauer walked and went to third on a Jacksonville error prior to C Tucker Barnhart’s clutch two-out single up the middle.

Jacksonville then plated the game-winning run in the first extra frame to take the series. SS Chris Gutierrez reached on a base knock and advanced to second on a wild pitch and third on a passed ball to set up RF Kyle Jensen, who bounced a single in the hole between third base and shortstop to push the Suns ahead 5-4.

RHP Joshua Schmidt (1.0 IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 1 SO) earned the win for Jacksonville to improve to 4-3 this season, while closer A.J. Ramos (1.0 IP, 1 BB, 1 SO) notched his 12thh save of the year. Schmidt and Ramos combined with Jordan Conley (1.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO) and Kyle Kaminska (0.1 IP) to give up only two hits in the final four frames. Pensacola reliever Mark Serrano (1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 SO) suffered the loss to fall to 6-2 in 2012.

Skipworth (2-5, 2 R, 2 HR, 3 RBI) and Gutierrez (2-5, 1 R) each tallied two hits in the contest for the Suns, while LaMarre (2-3, 1 2B, 1 RBI) and Rojas (2-5) collected multi-hit efforts in the defeat.

The Blue Wahoos have an off-day Wednesday before heading to Mobile for a four-game series with the Mobile BayBears, the Double-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks, with the series opener slated for a 7:05 p.m. start.

By Andrew Green

Photo by Chris Nelson for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News, Sports, TOP sports