Despite a strong offensive performance, the Pensacola Blue Wahoos couldn’t hold a pair of early leads in a 10-7 loss to the Biloxi Shuckers on Thursday night.

Troy Johnston went 4-for-5 with a homer and three runs batted in, improving his batting average to .538 (21-for-39) through the first nine games of Pensacola’s homestand. The first baseman now has multi-hit games in 7 of his last 8 games dating back to last Wednesday, and is batting .298 on the season.

Johnston homered in the bottom of the first to give the Blue Wahoos a 1-0 lead, but it didn’t last long as Biloxi’s Cam Devanney answered in the second against Zach McCambley (L, 2-4) with a solo homer of his own. A Terence Doston RBI single in the fourth gave the Shuckers a 2-1 lead.

Griffin Conine followed a Johnston single in the fifth with a two-run homer, his eighth of the year, giving the Blue Wahoos a 3-2 advantage. The Shuckers retaliated once again in the sixth with a four-run frame, as RBI singles from Yeison Coca and Doston were followed by a two-run double from Felix Valerio to give Biloxi the lead for good.

Shuckers starter T.J. Shook (W, 1-0) completed 6.0 innings for his longest Double-A start, and Pensacola’s bullpen struggles enabled Biloxi to extend their advantage. Noah Campbell hit an RBI triple in the seventh against George Soriano, and Thomas Dillard and Tristen Lutz hit back-to-back homers against Colton Hock in the eighth before Doston capped the scoring with an RBI double in the ninth.

Johnston added a two-run double in the eighth and Luis Aviles hit a two-run double in the ninth, but it wasn’t enough for the Blue Wahoos as they dropped their first game of the series.

With the loss, Pensacola’s lead in the South Division has shrunk to 0.5 games over the Shuckers with 21 to play in the first half.