Wahoos Beat Jacksonville

April 16, 2016

Pensacola Blue Wahoos first baseman Ray Chang said when he stepped into the on-deck circle, he had a serious case of de ja vu.

Less than a year ago on June 10, the 32-year-old minor league veteran hit a walk-off single to defeat the Jacksonville Suns.

He did it again last night with a single to right field to score catcher Chad Wallach from third base with one out in the 11th inning, giving Pensacola a, 4-3, victory Friday over Jacksonville at Blue Wahoos Stadium. It’s the first time in the Blue Wahoos’ five-year history that it has won the first two five-game series.

Pensacola is 3-1 against the Suns and sits atop the Southern League South Division at 7-2. Jacksonville fell to 5-4.

Chang, who’s hitting .294, nearly froze to death after his walk-off hit getting doused in cold water three times. It was the third walk-off in his career. He said the feeling of hitting a walk-off never gets old.

“Never. Absolutely never,” Chang said after the game. “That’s an awesome feeling.”

Chang’s walk-off was set up by smart base running by Wallach. He took off for second when Suns’ closer Victor Araujo bounced one in the dirt and ended up on third when catcher Francisco Arcia threw the ball into right-center field.

Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said Chang was just the person he wanted at the plate.

“I love him being up in that situation with his experience,” Kelly said. “Chang was clutch again.”

In the 10th inning, the Blue Wahoos loaded the bases against Araujo with two outs but he struck out Pensacola’s Brandon Dixon to get out of the inning.

Chang said the mood of the 2016 team compared to last year’s team is “180-degrees different.” He added, “We got off to a really slow beginning last year. We’ve got some serious chemistry going on here.”

Interestingly, Wallach scored the Blue Wahoos last two runs. He smashed a two-run homer to right field — the team’s third home run of the season — that put the Blue Wahoos up, 3-0, in the second inning.

“Chad’s got the power to go to the opposite field,” Kelly said. “In this park, I don’t care which way the wind is blowing, that’s a big home run.”

The Blue Wahoos went up, 1-0, in the first when Beau Amaral walked and then scored when left fielder Tony Renda, ripped a single to center field.

However, Jacksonville clawed its way back scoring one run in the sixth, seventh and eighth to tie the game, 3-3. In the eighth, Suns first baseman Brady Shoemaker singled into right field with one out to score right fielder Jeremias Pineda with the tying run.

Jacksonville had a golden opportunity to win the game in the ninth inning when it loaded the bases but Austin Dean hit a chopper to Pensacola third baseman Eric Jagielo, who quickly threw to home plate to force out second baseman Peter Mooney. With the bases still loaded and two out, Shoemaker hit a grounder to Jagielo who stepped on the third base bag to end the scoring threat.

Meanwhile, the Wahoos bats went silent as Jacksonville relievers set down 16 Pensacola hitters in a row from the fourth inning until Chad Wallach earned an infield single that ricocheted off the first baseman in the ninth inning. In fact, Suns relievers Scott Lyman, Tyler Kinley and Sean Donatello combined to pitch 5.2 innings of no-hit, no-run ball until Wallach’s hit.

Pensacola pitcher Jackson Stephens, who got the Suns side out four times in six innings, pitched 5.2 innings and allowed one run on three hits and two walks, while striking out seven.

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