Wahoos Beat Trash Pandas After Ninth Inning Rally

April 17, 2022

Griffin Conine’s two-out, two-run single in the top of the ninth inning gave the Pensacola Blue Wahoos their biggest moment of the young season on Saturday night, defeating the Rocket City Trash Pandas 10-8.

After a hit batsman and Jerar Encarnacion infield single put runners at first and third trailing 8-7, Ray-Patrick Didder beat out a game-tying infield single to bring the score to keep the game alive. Conine then grounded his go-ahead two-run single that proved to be the difference, giving Pensacola at least a split of their six-game series in North Alabama.

Blue Wahoos starter Zach McCambley fell victim to the long ball, allowing a two-run homer to Trey Cabbage in the first and a three-run homer to Zach Humphreys in the fourth. Encarnacion hit a solo homer in the fourth for Pensacola to get on the board, and Hayden Cantrelle tied for the league lead with his third home run of the year, a three-run blast in the fifth to tie the game 5-5.

The tie game wouldn’t last long, as McCambley was chased in the bottom of the fifth with a two-run double from Kevin Maitan. Josh Simpson allowed an inherited runner to score, but struck out seven batters over 2.2 hitless innings to keep the game within reach at 8-5.

Cobie Fletcher-Vance extended his team-high hitting streak to seven games with RBI singles in the sixth and eighth innings, drawing the deficit to 8-7. Jefry Yan (W, 1-0) pitched a perfect eighth to send the game to the ninth, where the Blue Wahoos used their small ball skills to scratch across the pivotal three runs against Sean McLaughlin (L, 0-1). Yan returned to the mound to lock down the thrilling win.

The Blue Wahoos look for a series win in their finale against the Trash Pandas on Sunday afternoon.

Comments

Comments are closed.

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