Wahoos Beat Jacksonville

July 4, 2015

The Pensacola Blue Wahoos (4-4, 29-47) took the three-game series and a 7-6 advantage in the season series for the Golden Skillet against the Jacksonville Suns (3-5, 32-45) with a 5-1 victory Friday night.

Wahoos starter Tim Adleman (4-6) had a solid performance on the mound, earning a win with 6.0 innings of work while allowing only one run on eight hits and striking out seven. Suns starter Scott Lyman earned his third loss in four starts.

Manager Pat Kelly on Adleman: “He’s been really steady every time out there. You just know that if you score a couple of runs for him, you’re going to win the game.”

With fireworks scheduled for after the game, veteran infielder Ray Chang blasted some fireworks of his own as he led the team at the plate with yet another stellar performance. He hit his first home run since June 13, 2013 on a solo shot to left field and was 3-4 at the plate. Outfielders Jesse Winker and Sean Buckley each went 2-4 with an RBI apiece.

Chang on the home run: “Obviously as a leadoff guy you want to see as many pitches as possible, try and get his pitch count up. I saw every pitch that he had, and I was just fouling balls off, fouling balls off.

“They’ve been [pitching] in to me a lot this series, knowing I’m a guy that likes to spray the ball the other way. And so I just cheated on one and got lucky and hit one out, first time in two years.”

Adleman got into a bit of trouble in the top of the first as he loaded the bases with only one out. However, he was able to get out of the jam with a pair of impressive strikeouts.

In the bottom half of the fourth, Seth Mejias-Brean singled, stole second and advanced to third on a fly ball. Sean Buckley then drove him home with one out to increase the Wahoo lead to 2-0.

The Suns did a bit of damage in the fifth inning, getting a run on three singles to bring them within a run. Adleman was able to get out of the inning with a two-out strikeout as a man was in scoring position.

Juan Perez led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to the corner in right. He would later score on an error at second following a Juan Duran blooper to make it 3-1.

Kyle Skipworth led off the seventh with a double to the corner in right, the sixth leadoff hit in the first seven innings. After a Mejias-Brean walk on the next at-bat, an error at first would allow Skipworth to score from second base.

Juan Silva and Chang opened the bottom of the eighth with a pair of walks. Jesse Winker would then capitalize for the Wahoos with a ground-rule double to drive in a run and make it 5-1.

Kelly took time to praise the defense after the win: “We’ve played super defense all year, and I thought that was very apparent tonight. We turned a big double play. Mejias-Brean made an outstanding play to his left earlier in the ballgame. With Adleman pitching, you know you’re going to get ground balls, so I think the infielders are ready and it makes a big difference.”

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News, Sports