Wahoos Rally For 7-3 Win Over Braves

June 12, 2013

The first five Pensacola Blue Wahoos reached base as part of a four-run eighth inning that pushed Pensacola past the Mississippi Braves 7-3 on Tuesday night at Trustmark Park. With the win, the Wahoos finished the 10-game road trip at 5-5 and knocked Mississippi out of first place in the process.

Pensacola entered the eighth inning trailing 3-1, but strung together a rally against Braves’ reliever Ian Thomas. After a leadoff walk to Ryan LaMarre, Travis Mattair singled to set the stage for a frantic comeback. Tucker Barnhart doubled, Ray Chang singled, and Devin Lohman singled on three consecutive pitches to turn a two-run deficit into a 4-3 lead. The Wahoos eventually loaded the bases with two outs when Theo Bowe drew a walk to give the Wahoos a two-run lead.

Mississippi threatened in the last of the eighth by putting runners on second and third with one out. Pensacola’s Trevor Bell fought back, though, to strike out Edward Salcedo and Barrett Kleinknecht to preserve the two-run lead.

The Wahoos added two insurance runs in the ninth inning on a Ray Chang single and a bases loaded walk to Bryson Smith. That was more than enough for Bell, who picked up his first save as a Wahoo with a scoreless ninth.

Pensacola jumped on top early in the game as Barnhart smacked a two-out single in the first inning to score Smith. The Braves responded with two runs in the last of the second on an RBI single from Kleinknecht, who then came around to score on an errant pickoff attempt from the catcher Barnhart.

Dan Brewer blasted his first homer of the season in the third inning to give the Braves a 3-1 lead. Mississippi loaded the bases later in the inning, but Pensacola starter Josh Smith induced a 6-4-3 double play to stomp out the threat. The twin-killing sparked a string of 10 straight set down by Smith to end his outing. Smith went six innings, allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits, but didn’t factor in the decision.

Brian Pearl (3-0) picked up the win for Pensacola by pitching a scoreless seventh inning in relief of Smith. Thomas (3-3) took the loss for the Braves by allowing four runs in 1.1 innings.

After an off day on Wednesday, the Wahoos return home to finish out the first half with a five-game series against the first place Mobile BayBears. The BayBears lead the division by a half-game over Mississippi, 1.5 games over Montgomery and two games over Jacksonville. Tim Crabbe (2-6, 3.64) will get the start for Pensacola against Mobile’s Bradin Hagens (7-3, 2.69).


story by Kevin Burke

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