Aviles Homers Late To Lead Blue Wahoos To First Win

April 13, 2022

A go-ahead ninth-inning homer for Luis Aviles Jr. against his former team helped lift the Pensacola Blue Wahoos to their first win of the season on Tuesday night, defeating the Rocket City Trash Pandas 4-3 in Madison, Alabama.

The solo blast from Aviles, who played last season for the Trash Pandas, capped a comeback for the Blue Wahoos after falling behind early. A near-perfect effort from the Blue Wahoos bullpen kept the game within reach as the offense slowly worked their way back into the game.

George Soriano struck out six batters in his Double-A debut, allowing three unearned runs over 4.0 innings. A pair of errors and a pair of walks netted the Trash Pandas a run in the first, and they took advantage of another error from Aviles in the second to extend their lead to 3-0. An RBI double from Anthony Mulrine and RBI single from Aaron Whitefield proved to be the only two hits in the ballgame for Rocket City.

The Blue Wahoos got on the board in the third on an RBI single for Paul McIntosh against Rocket City starter Coleman Crow, but couldn’t gain any more traction until the seventh inning. Aviles poked a one-out single against reliever Jack Dashwood, and with two outs Victor Victor Mesa delivered an RBI double to draw the score to 3-2. One batter later, McIntosh kept up his hot hitting with an RBI triple to tie the score 3-3.

Robert Garcia and Andrew Nardi (W, 1-1) were perfect over their relief appearances, setting the stage for Aviles to line a solo blast just out of the reach of left fielder Torii Hunter Jr. to lead off the ninth against Luis Ledo (L, 0-1). Colton Hock (S, 1) worked around a leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth to lock down his first save of the year.

The Blue Wahoos continue their series against the Rocket City Trash Pandas on Wednesday night.

by Erik Bremer, Pensacola Blue Wahoos

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