Wahoos Wait Out Rain And Rally Late For 4-3 Win

August 6, 2023

The Blue Wahoos’ recent good fortune without rain delays at home ran out Saturday.

But they maintained a season-long feat of late-inning success.

After the longest rain delay of the season – two plus hours – the Blue Wahoos erased a sixth-inning 3-0 deficit, got a clutch go-ahead, run-scoring double from catcher Will Banfield in the eighth inning, and pulled off a 4-3 victory against the Biloxi Shuckers before Saturday night fireworks lit up Blue Wahoos Stadium.

Reliever Luarbert Arias earned his first Double-A win for Pensacola after pitching two scoreless innings. He yielded a two-out single in the ninth, then threw a perfect tailing slider to strike out Biloxi’s designated hitter Tristen Lutz and end the game.

He followed a superb night by M.D. Johnson, who pitched seven innings for the first time this season, and was nearly as sharp as his last start at home when he blanked Rocket City in a six-inning outing.

The Blue Wahoos are now 53-3 when leading after eight innings, which is why this team is now 20 games above .500 at 60-40 and on pace to set a franchise record for most wins in a season.

The game was delayed 2 hours and 11 minutes following after a massive thunderstorm with strong winds in the late afternoon engulfed the stadium. It then turned into a slower, steady rain until 7:30 before the field tarp could be removed.

The fans among a once-capacity crowd who waited it all out saw another Blue Wahoos comeback. It led into the fireworks show sponsored Saturday by Hill-Kelly Dodge Chrysler Jeep – a Blue Wahoos charter partner since the inaugural season.

Biloxi hit the first of its three homers Saturday, all solo shots, when Isaac Collins hit a two-out shot in the first inning. Carlos Rodriguez, a Mobile native, made it 2-0 in the third inning with his two-out homer.

In the fourth inning, the Blue Wahoos’ Griffin Conine again showed his defensive skills by making a sensational leaping catch over the right field wall to rob Biloxi’s Ethan Murray of a 3-run homer.

That play, that catch, proved to be a game-deciding moment.

After Shuckers star Jackson Chourio, a 19-year-old phenom centerfielder, hit the team’s third solo homer in the sixth inning, the Blue Wahoos began the comeback. Chourio is one of the top prospects in Minor League Baseball.

But other than those three pitches, Johnson was effective all night working fast and throwing strikes. He allowed just five hits, four walks and struck out four to earn his second win.

Blue Wahoos newcomer Jacob Berry, the Miami Marlins’ top draft pick last year from LSU, hit a sacrifice fly RBI for the team’s first run.

Bennett Hostetler followed in the seventh with a two-run, bases-loaded single that scored Banfield and Victor Mesa Jr. to tie the game. Those led off the inning with a single and walk, followed by Cody Morissette’s walk to load the bases.

In the eighth inning, Berry led off with a single. He moved to second on José Devers’ sacrifice bunt, then over to third on Conine’s groundout. Banfield hit a 1-2 fastball high in the strike zone and just missed a homer off the right field wall for the game-winning RBI.

The Blue Wahoos waited out the weather, knowing it was eventually going to clear. Their previous high for rain delay this year was 1 hour and 16 minutes.

But with the artificial turf surface and drainage system at Blue Wahoos Stadium, the field can drain 16 inches of water in an hour. It can easily handle any extended set of thunderstorms.

The Blue Wahoos will now try to win the series in final game of the six-game homestand on Sunday afternoon.

by Bill Vilona, photo Nino Mendez / Pensacola Blue Wahoos

Comments

Comments are closed.

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