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Blue Wahoos Get Walk-Off Win Over Trash Pandas
May 21, 2021
His last time with walk-off heroics was Nick Lovullo’s freshman year in high school.
So you can imagine how good he felt Thursday night, after the Blue Wahoos second baseman hit a two-strike pitch in the right center gap, scoring Devin Hairston all the way from first base in the Wahoos’ entralling 4-3 comeback win against the Rocket City Trash Pandas.
It was Pensacola’s second walk-off win in three nights. Wow, indeed.
“It has been 12 years,” said Lovullo, remembering his prior walk-off thrill. “And it definitely felt great. Anytime we win it’s awesome, but especially when you come from behind like we did (Thursday) night.
Most of the crowd of 4,114 had stayed around when the Blue Wahoos entered the bottom of the ninth, trailing 3-1, and with only five hits to that point.
And then, drama happened.
Lazaro Alonso led off with a walk. Lorenzo Hampton followed with a single. Connor Justus, who nearly had a game-tying home run in Wednesday’s 2-1 loss, smashed the first pitch he saw down the third base line to tie the game with a double.
Hairston followed with a sacrifice bunt, which led to an errant throw that deflected off first baseman Ibandel Isabel’s glove.
In the split-second Justus had to make a decision, as he rounded third, he made a dash for the plate, but the Isabel recovered fast enough and his throw home was perfect to get Justus out
Up stepped Lovullo.
“Great at-bats by Alonzo, Hamps and Justus and good job by Dev. Everybody up front executed,” Lovullo said. “And for me, I was seeing the ball pretty well. He threw an 0-1 fastball, I put a good swing on it and I just missed it.
“And then he threw pretty much the same pitch and I was able to get a barrel on it and put it in the right spot and it was a pretty fun celebration afterwards.”
The win put the Blue Wahoos back above .500 at 8-7. The Trash Pandas have the same record. The teams will complete the full week series with games Friday through Sunday.
The game began with the Tate High baseball team part of the groups attending and Tate High grad Jay Bell, now Trash Pandas manager, greeting friends prior to the first pitch.
The Trash Pandas scored all their runs in the second inning. It was the only rough patch for Blue Wahoos starter Brandon Leibrandt, who had his best outing.
Leibrandt finished with four hits allowed, just one walk and four strikeouts in five inning. The Blue Wahoos bullpen trio of Jose Mesa Jr., Zach Wolf and newcomer Dylan Brice combined on shutout innings.
That set the stage for the Blue Wahoos ninth.
“It was a crazy ninth inning. Last couple nights has been a crazy end to our games. Great at-bats by Alonzo, Hamps and Justus and good job by Des. Everybody up front executed.
“There is so much talent in our lineup and so much talent on the pitching mound. Everyone believes in one another. Just because the results aren’t what we wanted early in the game, doesn’t mean that we are not going to get it later in the game.}
They did just that Thursday.
by Bill Vilona, Blue Wahoos Senior Writer
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