With an assist from center fielder Justin Dean, Griffin Conine hit a go-ahead home run in the eighth inning to lead the Pensacola Blue Wahoos over the Mississippi Braves by a score of 6-4 on Saturday night.

In front of a sellout crowd on Pensacola Pelicans reunion night and Latin American Heritage Night, Conine’s blast bounced off the glove of Dean and over the wall to give the Blue Wahoos their first lead of the night.

Pensacola starter Eury Pérez was touched for an RBI double from Dean in the first inning, and served up a home run to Jalen Miller in the second before allowing a wild pitch in the fifth for Mississippi’s third run. The righty fanned seven, but departed after 4.2 innings trailing 3-1.

Mississippi’s Alan Rangel struck out seven batters of his own, allowing only a José Devers RBI single over 5.0 solid innings. Devers finished 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles.

Trailing 3-1 in the sixth, the Blue Wahoos took a brief 4-3 lead thanks to RBI singles from Conine and Cobie Fletcher-Vance, followed by a go-ahead RBI double from J.D. Orr. Mississippi evened the score in the seventh against reliever Robinson Martínez (W, 1-0) in his Double-A debut, but the righty stranded a runner in scoring position to preserve a 4-4 tie.

Conine’s two-run homer against Braves closer Justin Maese (L, 1-5) set the stage for Dylan Bice (S, 1), who earned his first save of the season with a 1-2-3 ninth.

The Blue Wahoos wrap up their series against the M-Braves on Sunday.

by Erik Bremer, Pensacola Blue Wahoos