Wahoos Win 5th Series Of The Season

May 13, 2016

Pensacola Blue Wahoos first baseman Donald Lutz took out some of his frustrations at the plate against Chattanooga this series at AT&T Field.

Lutz went 2-4 and drove in three runs and stole a base, as Pensacola clinched the five-game series with a 5-4, victory Thursday that was delayed by rain an hour and 20 minutes in the bottom of the sixth inning.

The Blue Wahoos clinched the series to move to 5-2 this season. However, the Blue Wahoos are still chasing the Biloxi Shuckers, who over took them April 19. The Shuckers came from behind to beat the Jacksonville Suns, 8-6, Thursday and now are 21-12. Meanwhile, Pensacola improved to 21-13, a half-game behind the Shuckers.

In two games against Chattanooga this series, Lutz has feasted on the Lookouts pitchers going 4-8 with two doubles and raising his average to a season-high .200. Lutz, who is recovering from Tommy John surgery, has one homer and 11 runs batted in this season and it was his second three RBI game of the year.

He drove in the go-ahead runs in the fifth inning when he singled up the middle to score second baseman Zach Vincej and third baseman Alex Blandino, which put Pensacola on top, 4-1.

Chattanooga scored two in the bottom of the fifth inning to make it a 4-3 game. The No. 8 hitter Stuart Turner and the No. 9 hitter Shannon Wilkerson hit back-to-back solo shots to left field off of Pensacola starter Nick Travieso.

Pensacola added a run in the top of the sixth inning when Vincej hit a soft grounder to shortstop to score Blue Wahoos catcher Chad Wallach for a 5-3 lead.

Chattanooga went up, 1-0, in the first when Ryan Walker singled to center field to score Zach Granite.

The Blue Wahoos then came back to take the lead, 2-1, by scoring in the second and third innings. In the second, Wallach grounded into a double play that scored Pensacola right fielder Brandon Dixon. In the third inning, Lutz hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Vincej.

Pensacola starting pitcher Travieso, the Cincinnati Reds No. 7 prospect according to Baseball America, allowed three earned runs on five hits and three walks in 5.1 innings, while striking out five. In his longest outing of the season, he improved to 2-2 with a 5.96 ERA.

Bottom of the sixth inning Travieso struck out second baseman Levi Michael and then walked D.J. Hicks. As he was being replaced by Pensacola reliever Barrett Astin, it started to rain at about 8:30 p.m. and the game was finally resumed at 9:50 p.m. Thursday.

Pensacola shortstop Calten Daal went 1-4 to push his hitting streak to 11 games. He is hitting .425 (17-40) in 11 games.

In addition, Tony Renda, who batted leadoff and played left field, was 1-5 to extend his hitting streak to 11 games. His batting average is now .317 on the season.

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