Mississippi Ends The Blue Wahoos’ Win Streak

May 17, 2015

The Pensacola Blue Wahoos looked good in its special jerseys by marine artist Guy Harvey with the big game fish seemingly swimming off of the front.

When they loaded the bases with none out on three straight singles in the bottom of the ninth inning, they felt even better. With a four-game win streak on the line, the fans and players just knew, just knew the team would win a fifth in the row.

Up to the plate came Pensacola catcher Kyle Skipworth, who reached base in his first three plate appearances. However, after fouling four straight pitches off with two strikes, Skipworth struck out on the ninth pitch from Mississippi Braves reliever Ryan Kelly.

A pop out to shortstop and strike out later and Mississippi stole a, 1-0, victory from the jaws of the Blue Wahoos in front of a sellout crowd of 5,038 at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium. The Braves lone run came in the first inning on a homer—his first of the season—that was crushed by 6-4, 230-pound right fielder David Rohm that appeared to fly about four feet over a leaping Jesse Winker’s glove at the wall.

Pensacola starter Keyvius Sampson, who picked up the loss (1-2), threw six innings, gave up three hits, walked three and struck out five. He lowered his ERA to 2.05.

No one was rooting harder than Sampson in the locker room, where he was icing his arm, for Pensacola to score in the ninth.

“You never want one pitch to decide the game,” Sampson said afterward. “I was inside rooting for them. Our team could have easily gave in and gone 1-2-3 and called it a day but they kept fighting.”

The Braves looked like they would score again in the fourth inning but catcher Matt Kennelly was gunned down by a perfect throw at the plate by Blue Wahoos center fielder Beau Amaral.

Mississippi pitcher Jason Hursh, the Braves No. 6 prospect, matched Sampson inning for inning. After allowing five or more runs in four of his last five outings, Hursh threw six scoreless innings against Pensacola, giving up three hits, one walk and striking out four.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News, Sports