Blue Wahoos Out Of Playoffs As Historic Season Ends

September 13, 2015

With one swing, Pensacola Blue Wahoos first baseman Marquez Smith cleared up his club’s playoff blues and cleared the bases with a grand slam that rocketed over the left field fence.

In the snap of a finger, Pensacola had five runs in the seventh inning and trailed the Biloxi Shuckers, 7-5, Saturday at Pensacola Bayfront Stadium.

Smith’s stroke also ended a Pensacola slump that saw them score just two runs on nine hits through 24 innings and hit .115 (9-78) against one of the best starting rotation in the Southern League, which boasted a 3.17 ERA.

However, the comeback fell short as the Shuckers held on for a 7-5 victory over Pensacola in front of 4,104 fans Saturday. They celebrated with champagne in the dugout as the team’s fireworks show fired up and Biloxi fans chanted “Shuckers!”

Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said Biloxi easily has five position players that are future Major Leaguers, not to mention its stellar pitching rotation.

“That’s a heck of a club,” Kelly said. “They are very talented. Not only can they hit, they got speed and they got defense.”

Smith said he enjoyed playing for the Blue Wahoos all season. He finished the season with nine home runs and 50 RBIs.

“Biloxi is obviously a good team and has a really good staff,” Smith said. “We gave ourselves a chance in the end, we just fell a little short. (Our comeback) says a lot about our guys. That’s a good group of guys in there who are always going to battle.”

It was the first postseason appearance for both franchises. The Blue Wahoos ended the longest drought of missing the playoffs by a Southern League Major League affiliate. The Cincinnati Reds last Double-A team to make the playoffs was Chattanooga in 2006.

The Blue Wahoos, which won a half for the first time since its inaugural season in 2012, came into Saturday’s best-of-five series in a must-win situation after dropping the first two playoff games to the Biloxi Shuckers at MGM Park. But Pensacola quickly fell behind, 7-0.

Biloxi right-hander Tyler Wagner gave up three runs in 6.2 innings and struck out six batters. Meanwhile, the Shuckers were led by a two-run bomb by shortstop Orlando Arcia in a five-run fourth inning.

Pensacola, which finished its season 6-17 against Biloxi, was simply overmatched by the Shuckers, who boasted 11 of the Milwaukee Brewers top 30 prospects, including four of the top 10.

Arcia certainly played against Pensacola like the Brewers top prospect. He went 4-5 with a homer, three doubles and two runs batted in Saturday and for the series batted .615 (8-13) with two home runs, six RBIs, five runs and a triple.

Jesse Winker, who went 1-3 with a single and run, is the Cincinnati Reds top prospect. He was asked about his future and said jokingly he was going home to watch the Buffalo Bills play.

“I have no idea what’s in store for my future,” he said. “I’m going to work hard and just try to get better. Everyone in there (the clubhouse) has a bright future ahead of them.”

Tim Adleman looked to turn around Pensacola’s fortunes. But the tall righty, who entered the game with the third best ERA in the Southern League at 2.64, gave up six runs in his third start in a row, lasting just 3.2 innings.

Adleman allowed 18 runs, 17 earned in 13.1 innings on 22 hits in his last three starts. That’s a very un-Adleman like 11.77 ERA for the Southern League All-Star.

Winker, who played the entire season for the Blue Wahoos, said he enjoyed his second season with the team.

“We went from last place to first place,” said Winker, who led the team in home runs (13), RBIs (55) and batting average (.280). “We’re all proud of that.”

Kelly, who was managing the Blue Wahoos for the first time this year, also said the season was “very fulfilling for me.” He said he was proud of how the team battled in every game all year long.

“You see our turnaround and we basically did it with the same guys,” said Kelly, who plans to manage in the Puerto Rican league this winter. “It’s nice to see them have success and be rewarded for all the hard work they put in.”

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