Blue Wahoos Beat Biloxi in Finale

August 7, 2023

The bases were loaded, the lead was halved and dangerous hitters were up as the Blue Wahoos faced seventh-inning trouble on Sunday.

Pitching coach Dave Eiland went to the mound. In less than 60 seconds, his message to reliever Zach McCambley was heeded.

McCambley struck out the next Biloxi Shuckers batter with a well-placed fastball, ended the inning on a ground out and the Blue Wahoos responded with more runs to balloon a 6-4 lead into an 11-6 victory against the Shuckers to claim the series, thus ending the homestand at Blue Wahoos Stadium in the best way.

“Dave is such a good guy to have on your staff. He’s been around baseball a long time,” said catcher Bennett Hostetler, who went 2-for-3 at the plate and drove in a big run in the bottom of the seventh to extend the lead.

“He just told Zach to trust your stuff and to make pitches, throw one at a time and that’s what Zach did,” Hostetler said. “He did a good job of limiting damage in the inning and got us out of it. And we were able to score some runs after that.”

That seventh-inning sequence could have gone the wrong way. Instead, it led to the Blue Wahoos’ (61-40) fourth win in six games against the Shuckers, who entered Sunday having won 14 of their last 19 games, including two of the first three games this week in Pensacola.

We always have tough games with those guys,” Hostetler said. “They are always back and forth. We did a good job this week of putting together good innings when we needed them. When they scored, it seemed like we would always had an answer, Just a good job by everybody, really.”

In the ninth inning Sunday, the Shuckers (53-48), the Milwaukee Brewers affiliate, had three of their four batters reach base against closer Jefry Yan. A run was scored. Eiland again went to the mound, this time to calm Yan.

Result? Two strikeouts against the next three batters to end the game.

“He has a great relationship with pretty much all of his pitchers,” Hostetler said of Eiland, a former major league pitcher, who has been pitching coach for the New York Mets and Kansas City Royals. “He knows what to say in the moment and he gets the best out of who we have on the mound.”

The Blue Wahoos used five pitchers Sunday. It started with Collin Lowe making his Double-A level debut. The 24-year-old righthander was summoned from the Jupiter Hammerheads, the Miami Marlins’ Low-A affiliate.

A free agent signee in 2022, Lowe impressed with five innings pitched, two runs allowed, no walks and three strikeouts to get the mound win. Four relievers followed.

Run support was quickly provided. In the first inning, Jacob Berry blasted a two-run homer into the right field berm. He then followed with a two-run triple in the second inning.

Berry, the Marlins’ No. 1 draft pick last year out of LSU, reached based four times Sunday, going 2-for-3 with two runs scored and four RBI in his biggest game since joining the team last week from the Beloit (Wisconsin) Sky Carp, the Marlins’ High-A affiliate.

José Devers had a two-run single in the fourth inning for a 6-2 lead. Will Banfield, used as designated hitter Sunday, blasted a two-run homer in the eighth to further pad the lead.

All nine Blue Wahoos batters reached base. Eight scored runs.

The Blue Wahoos’ next home series begins on Aug. 15 against the Montgomery Biscuits.

by Bill Vilona, photo Nino Mendez / Pensacola Blue Wahoos

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