Wahoos Win Fifth Straight
August 19, 2017
Pensacola Blue Wahoos second baseman Arismendy Alcantara has made quite an impact on the Double-A ballclub in his first three games for them.
The 25-year-old, in his eighth professional season, got on base four times, scored twice and drove in an RBI Friday in the Blue Wahoos, 8-3, victory over the Mississippi Braves at Trustmark Park.
Pensacola won its fifth straight game and clinched the five-game series against the M-Braves with its third win.
The Blue Wahoos, the first half Southern League South Division champions, improved to 26-27 in the second half. Mississippi fell to 14-37 in the second half.
Many of the Pensacola runs against Mississippi are thanks to Alcantara, who has played in the Major Leagues for the Chicago Cubs, Oakland A’s and Cincinnati Reds. He was 1-for-2 with double Friday and is now 5-for-13 for a .385 batting average, with two doubles, two triples, five runs scored and three RBIs.
In Friday’s game, Alcantara doubled in shortstop Blake Trahan in the third inning to tie the game, 1-1. Pensacola left fielder Gabriel Guerrero followed with a triple to right field to drive in Alcantara for a 2-1 Blue Wahoos lead.
Mississippi had scored first when left fielder Jared James homered to right field in the first inning. The Braves wouldn’t score again until they tacked on two more runs in the ninth inning after Pensacola had surged ahead, 8-1.
Besides Alcantara, Guerrero extended his hitting streak to eight games and recorded his fourth straight multi-hit game going 2-for-4 with a run, triple and an RBI for 44 this season. Guerrero, who is 7-for-13 (.538) against Mississippi, reached 37 multi-hit games for the season.
Pensacola center fielder Jonathan Reynoso was 2-for-5, with a double, run scored and RBI. Meanwhile, first baseman Gavin LaValley hit 1-for-5 with two RBIs.
Austin Ross started his third game since being injured and remains under a strict pitch limit, throwing 69, including 45 for strikes. He threw four innings, allowed one run on three hits, a walk and struck out three.
Reliever Domingo Tapia earned the win for Pensacola to improve to 4-6 with a 4.14 ERA. The big righty pitched three innings, allowed one hit and struck out two.
Fall Ball Registration Saturday At Molino Ballpark
August 18, 2017
Fall Ball registration at the Molino Ballpark will be held this Saturday from 10 a.m. until 1 pm. for t-ball, softball and baseball.
The registration fee is $55 per child, with age groups as follows:
Wee Ball : 3 years old
Tee Ball :4-6 years old
Baseball Coach Pitch : 7-8 years old
Baseball Minor :9-10 years old
Baseball Major :11-12 years old
Baseball Pony :13-15 years old
Softball Coach Pitch :7-8 years old
Softball 10U : 9-10 years old
Softball 12U :11-12 years old
Softball 16U :13-16 years old
Print a registration form in advance by clicking here.
A registration event will also be held August 26 from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Molino Ballpark.
Wahoos Win 4th Straight
August 18, 2017
For the first time since June 15, chalk up a “W” next to Keury Mella on your scorecard.
Pensacola scored four runs in the sixth and six runs in the eighth to surge past Mississippi for their fourth consecutive win.
In just his second game since joining the Wahoos, Arismendy Alcantara had a monster night going 3-for-6 with two triples, a double, two RBIs and three runs scored. Pensacola’s 14 hits fell one shy of tying their season-high for hits in a game.
Alcantara led off the game with a triple and would come home to score on Gavin LaValley’s sac fly to right. The 1-0 lead was short lived when Dylan Moore launched a game-tying homer to left in the bottom of the frame.
However, Mella demonstrated tremendous resiliency after the homer to Moore by retiring the next eight Braves that came to the plate. Unfortunately, the ninth Brave was Moore who again hit one sharply off Mella, this time for a double.
After a pop out, Alex Jackson singled to left to score Moore, putting Mississippi back on top 2-1.
That lead would last Mississippi up until the sixth inning when the Wahoos hit for the cycle as a team and sent 10 men to the plate in their four-run rally.
Aristides Aquino got the sixth started by taking Braves starter Mike Soroka deep for his team-leading sixteenth homerun of the year. After a walk and a single, Alcantara unleashed his second triple of the night, giving the Wahoos a 3-2 lead.
Soroka then surrendered a double and a walk undoing what was otherwise a very strong outing by the Braves top right-handed pitching prospect. Jacob Webb replaced Soroka and helped strand a pair of runners after striking out Aquino to end the sixth.
With the lead returned to him again, Mella dialed it in on the mound and finished his night with just two earned runs over six innings giving the righty his first quality start since July 30.
The fourth inning that gave the Wahoos the lead would be overshadowed by an eighth inning that saw 11 Wahoos come to the plate. Jonathan Reynoso led off the inning with his second homer of the season in what would prove to be the tip of the iceberg for the Pensacola offense. Two base hits and five walks later, the Wahoos took the field in the bottom of the eighth with a comfortable 11-3 lead.
The Braves added a pair of consolation runs in the eighth and the ninth inning to make it an 11-5 final.
Aquino, Trahan and Guerrero each finished with 3 hits, with Aquino coming a triple shy of the cycle.
With the Wahoos win and the Jacksonville’s win over Mobile, the Wahoos will enter play tomorrow still 2.5 games behind the Jumbo Shrimp in the South Division.
Cantonment Baseball Field Gets Makeover From The Blue Wahoos
August 17, 2017
A field at the Cantonment Sportsplex got a makeover Wednesday with a little help from the Blue Wahoos.
Despite rain, completed renovations included measuring and moving the bases, removing weeds and cleaning the infield, edging the base paths and home plate area, picking up trash and painting.
“It’s important to us to give back to the community, so it was a great day,” said Blue Wahoos President Jonathan Griffith. “There was a great outpour from this community. This is a revival for the Cantonment Sportsplex Association and we wanted to help them and educate them on field turf management.”
Headed up by four-time Southern League Groundskeeper of the Year Ray Sayre, the field is safer for the kids to play baseball.
“Today’s young players are the future of the game of baseball,” said Sayre. “Beauty is great, but safety is number one. It was important to make sure the bases are the correct distances and same level.”
Volunteers for the renovation included team co-owner Bubba Watson, front office members, gameday staff members, Waste Management and members of the Cantonment community.
“This is exciting for our kids to have a professionally repaired field,” said Cantonment Sportsplex Association President Josh Longo. “It’s good for them to see what it’s like to play on a field that’s prepared by a professional crew. By having the parents involved in the nomination process and cleaning, it feels like we’re doing something right.”
The Cantonment Sportsplex was chosen for the renovation through a contest on WEAR TV.
Photos courtesy Barrett McClean Photography/Blue Wahoos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Wahoos Top The Braves
August 17, 2017
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos left fielder Brian O’Grady smacked a sacrifice fly to center field to allow third baseman Nick Senzel to tag up from third and score the game-winning run in the 10th inning.
O’Grady earned a high-five from Pensacola manager Pat Kelly and his teammates as the Blue Wahoos pulled out a victory, 5-4, Wednesday over the Mississippi Braves at Trustmark Park.
Senzel walked and reached third when first baseman Gavin LaValley doubled on a ground ball to left field. O’Grady’s game-winning RBI made up for his error on a fly ball hit by right fielder Tyler Neslony that allowed catcher Alex Jackson to score in the eighth inning and tie the game, 4-4
Pensacola is now 2-6 in extra-inning games and won its third straight game.
Pensacola starter Deck McGuire was trying to earn a career-high 10 wins but for the fourth straight start failed to get it. The 6-foot-6 righty earned a no-decision Wednesday, pitching 5.2 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and two walks and striking out six. McGuire is 9-8 with a 2.69 ERA. After the first inning, McGuire walked into the Pensacola dugout with his 1,000th career inning pitched under his belt.
Instead, reliever Geoff Broussard, who pitched a perfect ninth inning, got the win to improve to 4-2 with a 3.14 ERA.
Pensacola took a 4-3 lead in the top of the eighth inning when Senzel hit his 14th double for Pensacola to drive in left fielder Gabriel Guerrero to tie the game, 3-3. Blue Wahoos right fielder Aristides Aquino put Pensacola up, 4-3, when he slammed a double, his 16th on the year, that brought home, Senzel.
Mississippi had jumped out to a 3-0 lead when Jackson launched his second homer of the season in the second inning. The Braves added two more in the fourth inning when shortstop Dylan Moore scored on a double by third baseman Austin Riley and Neslony singled in Riley.
In the second half, Pensacola improved to 24-27 in the Southern League South Division and remains three games behind the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in fourth place. The first half champions are 64-57 overall.
Wahoos Win With Five Runs In The Seventh Over Mobile
August 15, 2017
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos jumped out to a 4-0 lead Monday and starting pitcher Jose Lopez cruised through six scoreless innings.
Then the seventh inning happened. The Mobile BayBears sent 11 batters to the plate and scored seven runs on seven hits and one walk to take a 7-4 lead. But in the bottom of the inning, Pensacola sent 10 batters up to bat and scored five runs on three hits, three walks and a hit batter to go back on top, 9-7.
Both sides used three pitchers as an avalanche of runs crossed the plate in the seventh inning.
The Blue Wahoos held on to defeat the first place BayBears, 9-7, at Blue Wahoos Stadium, although it looked like Mobile would come from behind again. Mobile rallied in all three of its wins in the five-game series, including two victories in the ninth.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly described the 12-run seventh inning as “pretty wild.”
“You had two very tired bullpens in a long series with a lot of hitting,” Kelly said.
For the series, Pensacola had 12 homers, which is a franchise record. It’s five home runs Sunday tied a franchise record. In all, Pensacola scored 37 runs or 7.4 runs per game. Mobile scored 30. Not too shabby for a Blue Wahoos team that has struggled to hit and score runs all season.
“We’re swinging the bats great. I’m very pleased,” Kelly said. “Your physics professors said the ball travels better in humid weather. I never would have believed it. I think we saw it this series.”
Pensacola second baseman Alberti Chavez came up with the clutch hit Monday smacking a two-out bases loaded single to left field to score right fielder Aristides Aquino and catcher Chad Tromp with the game-winning runs that made the score, 9-7.
Blue Wahoos DH Gavin LaValley singled to drive in the first run of the inning and scored on first baseman Brian O’Grady’s sacrifice fly to the wall in right field to tie up the game, 7-7. LaValley went 2-5 with three RBIs.
“We had to battle the whole series,” LaValley said. “A couple of things didn’t go our way (in the seventh inning) but we didn’t let it get us down.”
He praised Chavez coming through for the team that improved Pensacola’s record in the second half to 23-27 just three games behind front-runner Mobile at 26-24. The victory also meant the two rivals ended up, 10-10, head-to-head this year.
“He’s the man (Chavez). He’s awesome. I love that guy,” the 22-year-old LaValley said. “He doesn’t get to play a lot but he takes advantage when he does get in.”
Lopez, named the Southern League pitcher of the week for a seven-inning complete game shutout victory over the Tennessee Smokies in his last start, increased his scoreless inning streak to 21 innings Monday against Mobile.
Lopez pitched 6.1 innings, and allowed the first two runs in the seventh to Mobile. Lopez gave up four hits, walked three and struck out five. The 23-year-old righty retired 14 of 15 Mobile batters he faced between the first and sixth innings.
“It’s unfortunate we didn’t get him the win,” Kelly said of Lopez, who is 7-1 on the season with a 2.46 ERA. “He pitched super.”
Pensacola center fielder Jonathan Reynoso hit a bomb just inside the top of the left field foul pole for his first Double-A home run of his career for a 4-0 lead. It also extended the Blue Wahoos franchise record to 12 homers in a series.
With just two position players on the Pensacola bench, Reynoso got hit by a pitch in his left wrist and fell to the ground in pain in the seventh inning. However, he finished the game on defense.
Pensacola scored first when LaValley ripped a double into the right field corner driving in both left fielder Gabriel Guerrero and third baseman Nick Senzel to put the Blue Wahoos ahead, 2-0. Catcher Chad Tromp poked a bloop single into left field that brought LaValley in for a 3-0 Pensacola lead.
Wahoos Claim Five Home Run Win Over Mobile
August 14, 2017
The inspiration for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos clubbing five homers in an, 11-2, victory Sunday was a bobblehead of second baseman Josh VanMeter on top of the team’s clubhouse exit.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly finally received the bobblehead that he said he had ordered in Spring Training four months ago and placed it there before the game against the Mobile BayBears.
Kelly knew VanMeter was the one person on the team with a bobblehead but said the do-everything player wouldn’t come clean about it at first during a team meeting.
“It showed up today,” Kelly said, smiling wide.
Kelly insisted that’s what snapped his team’s four game losing streak. Mobile won the first three games of the series, twice with ninth inning comebacks. But the Blue Wahoos took out their frustrations with a franchise-tying five home run game in front of 4,001 at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Blue Wahoos third baseman Nick Senzel crushed two, right fielder Aristides Aquino knocked two and shortstop Blake Trahan even smacked one. Pensacola has nine homers in the past two games.
Senzel, the Cincinnati Reds top prospect, clobbered two homers in a game for the second time in three days against the Mobile BayBears and drove in Pensacola’s first three runs Sunday.
Aquino, the Reds sixth best prospect, also crushed two homers for three RBIs and has three in two straight games. He has both a team-leading 15 home runs and 49 RBIs on the year.
Trahan, ranked as the 28th best prospect for the Reds, also popped one out, his second of the year, to left field in the sixth inning. His last homer came against Mobile on May 22.
Pensacola moved from the ninth most homers in the Southern League to seventh with 74.
Kelly was at a loss to explain the outburst of power from his team Saturday and Sunday.
“On my report last night, I started it from Coors Field South,” Kelly said, referring to the Colorado Rockies stadium where homers happen all the time in the thin mountain air. “I have no idea but we haven’t hit homers all year. But we do have guys who have power.”
Senzel drilled a line drive over the left field fence in the first inning to put the Blue Wahoos ahead, 1-0. The No. 2 overall pick in 2016 by the Cincinnati Reds then singled with two on and one out in the third inning to drive in Pensacola center fielder Jonathan Reynoso, giving the Blue Wahoos a 2-1 lead.
Senzel then scorched his second homer of the game just left of dead center 400-feet away and did a fist pump as it cleared the wall, putting Pensacola on top, 3-1.
The 22-year-old now has four homers in three games against Mobile and five in his last 40 at-bats. Ranked the No. 11 prospect in the minor leagues, he has slammed nine homers in 47 games with Pensacola with 13 total including the four he clobbered with the High-A Daytona Tortugas in the first half of the season.
He’s blistering Southern League pitching in August, going 20-48 for a .417 batting average and .451 on-base percentage. The University of Tennessee product has five homers, 13 RBIs, and three doubles this month. In the second half in Double-A, he is hitting .352 with 31 RBIs overall.
Aquino’s solo blast traveled out of sight to left field in the seventh inning and gave the Blue Wahoos a 7-1 lead. Aquino then whipped a line drive over the left field wall in the eighth inning with second baseman Alberti Chavez on base increasing its lead to 11-2.
“Power is a big part of his game,” said Kelly of Aquino, who led the Reds’ farm system with 23 homers last year. “It’s nice to see him breaking out.”
Trahan said this game may spark a win streak for the Blue Wahoos, which had lost eight of its last nine games.
“It’s good to see our offense come together,” said Trahan, the best fielding shortstop in the Southern League. “Hopefully, this game starts us getting hot.”
Mobile scored when first baseman Zach Houchins hit a sizzling grounder past Senzel in the third inning to drive in left fielder Brennon Lund to tie the game, 1-1. In the eighth inning, right fielder Zach Gibbons hit a solo homer to trail Pensacola, 7-2.
Pensacola pitcher Austin Ross made his second start after returning from the disabled list. He pitched three innings, gave up one run on five hits and struck out one. His ERA this season with the Blue Wahoos is a miniscule 1.56.
Pensacola, the first half champion, is 9-10 this season against Mobile, which is in first place in the second half. The final regular season game is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Monday.
The BayBears lead the Southern Division with a 26-23 record, while the Blue Wahoos are in fourth place at 22-27.
Photo courtesy Barrett McClean Photography/Pensacola Blue Wahoos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
Wahoos Homer Times Four In Loss To Mobile
August 13, 2017
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos’ much maligned offense achieved a rare feat Saturday — it crushed three home runs for four runs in the sixth inning to tie the Mobile BayBears, 7-7.
It is particularly unusual since even with the Blue Wahoos four home run outburst Saturday, they rank ninth out of 10 teams in the Southern League with 69 total this season.
But for the second straight game, Mobile rallied in the ninth when leadoff batter Brennon Lund drilled a solo shot to right field that bounced off the column below the scoreboard for an 8-7 victory in front of a sellout crowd of 5,038 at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Pensacola has slipped into a tailspin, losing four straight games and eight of its last nine. Mobile clinched the five-game series, 3-0, and lead their rival Blue Wahoos 10-8 in games this season.
Trailing Mobile, 7-3, Blue Wahoos left fielder Josh VanMeter sparked the sixth inning home run trots. The 22-year-old smacked a line drive two-run home run into the Hill-Kelly Hill in right field with third baseman Nick Senzel on base and no outs pulling Pensacola within, 7-5.
Pensacola right fielder Aristides Aquino launched the second bomb of the inning to left center field with one out for his team-leading 13th homer to make it a one-run game, 7-6.
Finally, first baseman Brian O’Grady yanked a deep fly ball to right field off the bottom right-hand corner of the scoreboard to make it a tie game, 7-7.
“All of a sudden Pensacola has become Coors Field,” said Pensacola manager Pat Kelly, referring to the home-run prone Colorado Rockies stadium. “Balls were jumping out of here.”
Kelly’s favorite long ball was smacked by O’Grady, who hit his seventh homer this season but is batting .167.
“None of those were cheapies,” Kelly said. “They were all good but O’Grady’s was the game’s biggest one. He’s been struggling a little bit. It was nice to see him break out.”
Pensacola also got a dinger out of center fielder Gabriel Guerrero. The Southern League All-Star clobbered a three-run homer to left field in the third inning with second baseman Alberti Chavez and shortstop Blake Trahan on base, which put the Blue Wahoos on top, 3-1. It was his fifth homer of the season.
Mobile seemed to blow the game wide open with its four-run sixth inning to take a 7-3 lead. BayBears shortstop Zach Houchins leadoff with his fourth triple this year into the right field corner. Mobile right fielder Zach Gibbons hit a chopper that Pensacola first baseman Brian O’Grady muffed to allow Houchins to score for a 4-3 Mobile lead. BayBears catcher Jose Briceno then tripled off the top of the wall in left field to drive in Gibbons making it, 5-3. It was his third RBI of the game and he now has 40 this season. Bo Way smacked a sharp line drive to centerfield that drove in Briceno for a 6-3 BayBears lead. The final run scored when Brennon Lund hit a sacrifice fly to left field to score Way for a 7-3 Mobile lead.
All four runs, two of which were earned, came off Pensacola reliever Robert Stock.
“(Mobile) can hit the fastball,” Kelly said. “It took Stock six hitters to figure out they were swinging at the first pitch.”
“We showed a lot of character coming back to put a four-spot against them,” Kelly said. “I liked our approach tonight. We’re getting ready to turn the corner.”
Besides left fielder Lund’s game-winning homer, Mobile catcher Jose Briceno tagged a bullet to left field for a two-out, two-run home run with Houchins on base to knot the game, 3-3 in the fourth inning. It was Briceno’s second homer in three games against the Blue Wahoos giving him eight on the season.
Nothing prepared onlookers for the home run parade. The game was tied, 3-3, after five innings.
Pensacola starter Jesus Reyes pitched five innings gave up three runs on six hits and two walks and struck out three.
“I thought he battled,” Kelly said.
Mobile leads the Southern Division with a 26-22 record in the second half, while Pensacola, which won the first half, dropped to 21-27.
Wahoos Lose To Mobile
August 12, 2017
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos started the ninth inning ahead, 1-0, and finished it Friday behind the Mobile BayBears, 3-1.
The Blue Wahoos have now lost three straight games and seven of their last eight and plummeted from first place in the Southern League South Division to fourth, four games behind rival Mobile.
Blue Wahoos big righty Deck McGuire treated the 4,416 filling Blue Wahoos Stadium to seven scoreless innings in this third attempt to earn 10 wins for the first time in his seven-year minor league career.
Mobile leads the Southern Division with a 25-22 record in the second half, while Pensacola, which won the first half, dropped to 21-26.
Blue Wahoos right fielder Aristides Aquino has the top batting average among the four players batting sixth through ninth at .207. As a team, Pensacola is last in the Southern League with a .228 batting average this season.
Kelly said his team is shorthanded with just 11 position players on the roster. Second baseman Shed Long, infielder Angelo Gumbs, first baseman Nick Longhi are all currently on the disabled list. Long is expected back within two weeks.
“(Our players) know we’re shorthanded,” Kelly said. “First, we got to get healthy. We got to get Shed Long back.”
Mobile improved to 2-0 in the five-game series against rival Pensacola and 9-8 this season.
The BayBears scored three runs in the top of the ninth on four straight hits — two singles and two doubles — on Pensacola closer Zack Weiss, who is now 7-10 in save opportunities.
The California Angels No. 3 prospect, first baseman Matt Thaiss, doubled to right field to drive in Mobile shortstop Alberto Triunfel with the tying run, 1-1. Mobile catcher Taylor Ward then doubled on a fly ball over Aquino’s head in right field score both center fielder Brennan Lund and Thaiss to overcome Pensacola, 3-1.
It spoiled McGuire’s stellar outing. He allowed three hits — all singles — and retired 13 batters in a row between the second and seventh inning and 15 of the last 16 batters he faced. This season, he has held the opponent scoreless in seven of his outings and opponents are batting just .207 against McGuire, who has a hard-to-hit slider and curveball combination.
His seven strikeouts gave him 143 this season, which is second in the Southern League.
“He’s been fantastic all year,” Kelly said. “He has a good feel for all his pitches.”
Pensacola’s only run came in the third inning on a missed hit-and-run play. Blue Wahoos center fielder Gabriel Guerrero took off for second but third baseman Nick Senzel struck out.
The throw from BayBears Ward, the catcher, bounced off the glove of BayBears second baseman Jose Rojas and rolled into the outfield, which allowed Pensacola left fielder Brian O’Grady to score for a 1-0 Pensacola lead.
Mobile Beats Pensacola
August 11, 2017
Pensacola Blue Wahoos third baseman Nick Senzel continued his dog-and-pony show for the Cincinnati Reds.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 draft drilled two homers in a game for the first time in his professional career and recorded his fifth four-RBI game in Thursday’s 10-9 series opening loss to the Mobile BayBears in front of 4,102 at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said the bad thing about Senzel is he comes up every nine batters.
“I wish I could hit him every inning,” Kelly said. “They only let him bat once every nine times. I wish he could get to the plate more.”
For his part, Senzel said he approaches the plate wanting to make good contact, not hit dingers.
“I’m not worried about hitting it over the fence,” Senzel said. “I’m just being aggressive and trying to hit the ball hard.”
Senzel, the Reds top prospect and the 11th ranked prospect in the minor leagues, crushed the ball to right center into the Hill-Kelly Dodge hill in the first inning with shortstop Blake Trahan on base to put the Blue Wahoos ahead, 2-0.
In the second inning, Senzel earned his third RBI of the game when he lined a single to center that drove in Trahan and put Pensacola ahead, 5-3.
Senzel lead off the fifth inning with a solo shot just right of the 400-foot mark in dead center and the Blue Wahoos trailed, 8-6. He went 3-4 with a walk and stolen base Thursday and now is 14-40 or .350 in his last 11 games with two homers and 10 RBIs.
The last time the University of Tennessee product produced four RBIs happened in a June 10 game for the High-A Daytona Tortugas against the Palm Beach Cardinals in the Florida State League.
The 22-year-old, who is batting .341 in Double-A, upped his home run total to seven with Pensacola and 11 on the year including his first half with Daytona.
Both Kelly and Senzel admired his home run to center field.
“He hit a fastball neck-high over the center field fence,” Kelly said. “That’s pretty impressive.”
Senzel added: “I took a good swing at it. It finally got out. I was happy to see it go.”
However, Pensacola blew the 4-0 lead it built in the bottom of the first inning.
Mobile came right back in its next at bat in the top of the second inning when BayBears catcher Jose Briceno clubbed a three-run blast to left center with second baseman Jose Rojas and left fielder Zach Gibbons on base. Briceno seventh homer pulled Mobile within, 4-3. The catcher, who had a 6-RBI game, had his second four-RBI game this season. Briceno went 2-3 with a homer, double and walk.
Mobile overtook its rival Pensacola with a four-run inning of its own in the third inning to go ahead, 7-5. The teams are 8-8 in head-to-head games this year.
BayBears center fielder Brennon Lund scored on a wild pitch with the bases loaded and second baseman Jose Rojas at the plate to trail Pensacola, 5-4. Rojas then tied the game, 5-5, with a sacrifice fly to right center that scored first baseman Matt Thaiss. BayBears left fielder Zach Gibbons smashed a grounder down the third base line into left field to drive in third baseman Zach Houchins, who had singled, for the go-ahead run, 6-5.
Pensacola reliever Domingo Tapia replaced starter Keury Mella and Briceno ripped a double to left field to drive in Gibbons for his fourth RBI and a 7-5 Mobile lead.
Back-to-back doubles by Mobile’s Rojas and Gibbons in the fifth inning put the BayBears ahead, 8-5.
Mella got knocked out of the game by Mobile after 2.2 innings after the BayBears scored seven runs on six hits a walk and one strikeout. It was his shortest outing since he lasted 1.2 innings in his second start of the year April 14 when he gave up five runs on six hits to the Biloxi Shuckers.
The 23-year-old Mella earned the loss and is 2-10 this season and remains winless at Blue Wahoos Stadium and in his last 10 starts.
Trailing 10-6 entering the ninth inning, Pensacola’s Trahan, left fielder Gabriel Guerrero and Senzel all scored but the game ended, 10-9.
The Blue Wahoos are now 3-8 in its last 11 games and have fallen to fourth place in the South Division with a 21-25 record. The first half champs are 61-55 overall.
Pensacola trails Mobile, which is 24-22 in the second half, by three games. The BayBears are 54-61 overall.
“We have to get better earlier in the game,” Senzel said. “We haven’t played well the last two and a half weeks. It’s been a rough stretch.”