Conine Blasts Two Homers As Blue Wahoos Cruise To 10-2 Win

August 14, 2022

The Pensacola Blue Wahoos put together a team effort on “Do-It-Yourself Jersey Night,” defeating the Birmingham Barons 10-2 in front of a sellout crowd on Saturday.

Griffin Conine hit a pair of home runs, Will Banfield hit his first at the Double-A level, and Cobie Fletcher-Vance went 4-for-5 for Pensacola’s most lopsided win in more than two months.

Birmingham’s Jose Rodriguez blasted the first pitch of the game for a solo homer to put the Barons ahead 1-0, but Pensacola starter Patrick Monteverde settled in from there. The lefty allowed two runs over 4.2 innings, striking out seven in his second Double-A start.

Conine answered back immediately in the bottom of the first with his 18th home run of the season against Barons starter Garrett Davila (L, 5-4) to give the Blue Wahoos a 2-1 edge. A Banfield sacrifice fly in the third stretched the Pensacola lead to 3-1.

J.J. Muno hit an RBI single against Monteverde in the fifth to draw the Barons to within a run, but Justin Evans (W, 1-0) entered in relief to prevent further damage. Evans retired all seven men he faced, and Conine’s second homer of the night in the bottom of the fifth stretched the Pensacola advantage back to a pair of runs at 4-2.

Pensacola broke the game open in the seventh inning, scoring six runs on only three hits to take a 10-2 lead that would hold for the final score. Banfield launched a two-run homer, a pair of runs scored on a throwing error from Rodriguez, and Fletcher-Vance capped his four-hit night with a two-run single.

The Birmingham bats were kept completely quiet for the back half of the ballgame, as Evans and Josh Simpson combined to retire all 13 men they faced. Thomas Jones contributed defensively, robbing Oscar Colas of a home run with a leaping catch at the center field wall in the sixth.

The Blue Wahoos wrap up their series against the Barons on Sunday.

by Erik Bremer, Pensacola Blue Wahoos

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