Wahoos Walk Off With Win

May 15, 2016

Bottom of the ninth inning, two outs and the bases loaded. It’s a situation every hitter has visualized at least a hundred times: the roar of the crowd, the crack of the bat and the thrill of victory.

The dream became a reality for Chad Wallach, who knocked a bases-clearing double to tie the game in the ninth before Pensacola walked off with a 5-4 win in extra innings.

Wahoos manager Pat Kelly turned to Wallach, his final position player available off the bench, to face the hard-throwing Mississippi Braves closer Mauricio Cabrera. Wallach wasted no time, sending the first pitch into the gap in right center field to erase a three-run deficit.

“When you’re in that situation and you’re trying to get a base hit for the team, you’re just going up there looking for one pitch,” Wallach said. “If the guy throws hard, you’re just trying to be on time. He threw it in a spot where I could hit it and I put a good swing on it.”

Pensacola took advantage of a leadoff walk in the 10th to set the scene for Blandino, whose single bounced past a drawn-in outfield. The team spilled onto the field in celebration and met Blandino behind second base with a baby powder shower.

“Water and baby powder, it’s kind of a disastrous mix,” Blandino joked. “But it’s always exciting when you can help your team walk off, especially the way we came back there, fighting and clawing our way back.”

Saturday’s game in front of a sellout crowd of 5,038 looked like a pitcher’s duel from the start as Sal Romano and Andrew Thurman combined for 16 strikeouts. Romano turned in the longest start of his Wahoos career, allowing two runs, one earned, in seven innings with a walk and seven strikeouts.

Romano worked around a two-run fifth inning, allowing a solo home run to Johan Camargo and falling victim to a pair of two-out errors. But the Pensacola starter finished on a strong note, retiring the last seven batters he faced.

“I thought the sixth inning was his best inning,” Kelly said. “He’s one of those guys that gets stronger as he goes on.”

Pensacola got a run back in the home half of the sixth as Joe Hudson doubled and scored on Bryson Smith’s sacrifice fly. But with a pair of insurance runs against El’Hajj Muhammad, Mississippi seemed to have enough insurance to stifle a Wahoos’ rally.

The Pensacola lineup wore down the closer Cabrera and spoiled a strong start from Thurman, who struck out a career-high nine batters. Wallach’s pinch-hit double was the team’s first hit in three innings, and Blandino’s single, just the fifth of the night for Pensacola, was the last one the Wahoos would need.

The Wahoos improved to 22-14 and picked up a half-game on first place in the Southern League South Division with Biloxi’s loss.

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