Blue Wahoos Get First Shutout Of The Season
April 17, 2016
The Pensacola Blue Wahoos lowered its team earned run average even more with Rookie Davis, Wandy Peralta and Kyle McMyne combining for the team’s first shutout this season.
Pensacola’s ERA dropped to an absurd Southern League-leading 1.80 in its, 3-0, victory Saturday over the Jacksonville Suns in front of a packed sellout crowd of 5,038 at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Strong pitching has been the theme for the 2016 version of the Cincinnati Reds Double-A affiliate in its first two series against Jacksonville and the Mississippi Braves. It has thrown four one-run games.
Despite feeling under the weather when he arrived at the park, Rookie Davis picked up his second victory, leading the way with six scoreless innings. He allowed five hits, walked one and struck out four.
Davis said he didn’t tell anyone how sick he felt.
“I didn’t want it to be an excuse,” Davis said. “I wanted to put it all on the line. The other team doesn’t feel sorry for me.”
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said he was impressed that Davis “battled through” his sickness and a hip flexor injury suffered in spring training.
The Blue Wahoos tough-to-hit pitching staff is getting a lot of credit, but Pensacola has relied on strong defense, as well.
In the fourth inning, J.T. Riddle smacked a single to right field sending Austin Dean, who drew a lead-off walk, to third. But Riddle rounded the bases too far and got caught in a run down. However, Dean decided to bolt for home and Pensacola first baseman Brandon Dixon gunned him out at the plate on a nice tag by catcher Chad Wallach.
“Our ERA under two shows how good our defense is,” said Davis, who has allowed one run in 11 innings for a 0.82 ERA. “It’s not just the pitching staff. We’re not averaging 27 strikeouts per game. We have a great defense behind us.”
Kelly said it was a good thing the rundown of Riddle took so long.
“Dean got a little anxious and Wallach made a good play on a tough throw,” Kelly said.
Pensacola scored first in the fourth inning when Davis hit a slow and high chopper to second base that scored third baseman Tony Renda from third. Blue Wahoos center fielder Beau Amaral then doubled down the right field line to drive in both Dixon and Wallach and just like that Pensacola led, 3-0.
It was the 22-year-old Davis’ first RBI since he was an 18-year-old playing in high school. He said he wasn’t trying to hit the ball to the opposite field, his swing was just behind.
“I was a little bit late,” Davis said. “I always pictured my first RBI coming on a hit.”
Pensacola has now won its first two series and is 8-2 and in first place in the Southern League South Division. It’s the team’s best start in its five-year history.
The Wahoos travel to Biloxi to play the Milwaukee Brewers Double-A affiliate the Shuckers Sunday afternoon. The Shuckers are in second place this season. The game will be a rematch of last year’s South Division playoffs that pitted the two teams against each other and was Pensacola’s first playoff appearance since it was established in 2012. Biloxi won the playoff series.
Also Saturday, Pensacola second baseman Alex Blandino, the Reds sixth best prospect, was activated Friday after an injury in spring training while playing in the World Baseball Classic qualifier for Nicaragua. He got his first hit Saturday in his seventh plate appearance on a blistering line drive to left field. He’s now 1-7 in two games.
Tate Wins District Title; Jay Falls To South Walton
April 16, 2016
Tate 7, Pace 2
For the third year in a row, the Tate Lady Aggies won the District 1-7A title Friday night 7-2 over Pace at Escambia High School.
Savannah Rowell recorded 10 strike outs in seven innings and allowed just two runs and seven hits. Rowell was also 2-4 with two RBIs and run. Savannah Ullrich and Hannah Brown bother homered for the Lady Aggies.
Other Tate hitters — Hannah Brown 3-3 HR, 2 RBIs, 2 R; Savannah Rowell 2-4 2 RBIs, R; Savannah Ullrich 1-2 HR, 2 RBIs, R.
Tate will host Milton on Wednesday in regional action, while Pace will hit the road to Niceville.
South Walton 3, Jay 1
The Jay Lady Royals lost Friday night 3-1 to South Walton at Northview in the Lady Royal’s sixth consecutive appearance inthe District 3-1A title game.
Destiny Herring pitched seven innings for Jay, allowing three runs, eight hits and striking out three. Micheala Stewart was 1-3 with a run for Jay.
Jay will travel Thursday night to Franklin County for the regional semi-finals.
Pictured top: The Tate Lady Aggies celebrate their district championship win Friday night. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
West Florida Lady Jags Win District Championship
April 16, 2016
The West Florida Lady Jaguars shut out Gulf Breeze 4-0 for the District 1-6A championship Friday night.
Sarah Nicholas pitched seven for the Lady Jags, allowing three hits and striking out five. Lauren Carnley was 2-4 with a single, a double, three RBIs and a run scored for West Florida, while Jibrashia Moore was 2-3 with a walk and two runs scores. Bri Morgan was 1-3 with a sacrifice bunt.
NorthEscambia.com photos by Gary Carnley, click to enlarge.
Wahoos Beat Jacksonville
April 16, 2016
Pensacola Blue Wahoos first baseman Ray Chang said when he stepped into the on-deck circle, he had a serious case of de ja vu.
Less than a year ago on June 10, the 32-year-old minor league veteran hit a walk-off single to defeat the Jacksonville Suns.
He did it again last night with a single to right field to score catcher Chad Wallach from third base with one out in the 11th inning, giving Pensacola a, 4-3, victory Friday over Jacksonville at Blue Wahoos Stadium. It’s the first time in the Blue Wahoos’ five-year history that it has won the first two five-game series.
Pensacola is 3-1 against the Suns and sits atop the Southern League South Division at 7-2. Jacksonville fell to 5-4.
Chang, who’s hitting .294, nearly froze to death after his walk-off hit getting doused in cold water three times. It was the third walk-off in his career. He said the feeling of hitting a walk-off never gets old.
“Never. Absolutely never,” Chang said after the game. “That’s an awesome feeling.”
Chang’s walk-off was set up by smart base running by Wallach. He took off for second when Suns’ closer Victor Araujo bounced one in the dirt and ended up on third when catcher Francisco Arcia threw the ball into right-center field.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said Chang was just the person he wanted at the plate.
“I love him being up in that situation with his experience,” Kelly said. “Chang was clutch again.”
In the 10th inning, the Blue Wahoos loaded the bases against Araujo with two outs but he struck out Pensacola’s Brandon Dixon to get out of the inning.
Chang said the mood of the 2016 team compared to last year’s team is “180-degrees different.” He added, “We got off to a really slow beginning last year. We’ve got some serious chemistry going on here.”
Interestingly, Wallach scored the Blue Wahoos last two runs. He smashed a two-run homer to right field — the team’s third home run of the season — that put the Blue Wahoos up, 3-0, in the second inning.
“Chad’s got the power to go to the opposite field,” Kelly said. “In this park, I don’t care which way the wind is blowing, that’s a big home run.”
The Blue Wahoos went up, 1-0, in the first when Beau Amaral walked and then scored when left fielder Tony Renda, ripped a single to center field.
However, Jacksonville clawed its way back scoring one run in the sixth, seventh and eighth to tie the game, 3-3. In the eighth, Suns first baseman Brady Shoemaker singled into right field with one out to score right fielder Jeremias Pineda with the tying run.
Jacksonville had a golden opportunity to win the game in the ninth inning when it loaded the bases but Austin Dean hit a chopper to Pensacola third baseman Eric Jagielo, who quickly threw to home plate to force out second baseman Peter Mooney. With the bases still loaded and two out, Shoemaker hit a grounder to Jagielo who stepped on the third base bag to end the scoring threat.
Meanwhile, the Wahoos bats went silent as Jacksonville relievers set down 16 Pensacola hitters in a row from the fourth inning until Chad Wallach earned an infield single that ricocheted off the first baseman in the ninth inning. In fact, Suns relievers Scott Lyman, Tyler Kinley and Sean Donatello combined to pitch 5.2 innings of no-hit, no-run ball until Wallach’s hit.
Pensacola pitcher Jackson Stephens, who got the Suns side out four times in six innings, pitched 5.2 innings and allowed one run on three hits and two walks, while striking out seven.
Wahoos Erupt For Four Runs To Beat Jacksonville
April 15, 2016
Barrett Astin, Wandy Peralta and Alejandro Chacin combined to pitch four scoreless innings, allow one hit and strikeout five as the Pensacola Blue Wahoos beat the Jacksonville Suns, 4-1, Thursday at Blue Wahoos Stadium. The Blue Wahoos are off to their best start in team history at 6-2, surpassing the 2012 team that started 5-3.
Chacin earned his second save of the season in four games and now has four strikeouts in four innings pitched. The relievers came in and got out the first 10 batters they faced after Sal Romano pitched five strong innings. He got six of his seven strikeouts in the first three innings, while allowing three hits and one earned run in the first inning.
Romano, the Cincinnati Reds No. 9 prospect according to Baseball America, also showed some defensive skills, reaching out to nab a hard hit grounder and getting the speedy Suns lead-off hitter Yefri Perez out at first.
Pensacola manager Pat Kelly said he had questions about his bullpen coming into the year but has called Chacin “fearless.”
“It’s been nice to have great pitching,” Kelly said. “We have a lot of flexibility and some good arms. They’ve been doing really good.”
The Blue Wahoos now lead the Suns, 2-1, in the five game home stand. In 2015, Pensacola didn’t win its first series until May. But this year, they’re going for their second straight series win to start the season.
Pensacola trailed, 1-0, until it erupted in the sixth inning, scoring four runs and sending nine hitters to the plate.
Jacksonville took the lead in the first inning when Suns shortstop J.T. Riddle singled on a soft liner to right field. Suns left fielder Austin Dean then smashed a high fly ball over the head of left fielder Pin-Chieh Chen, which scored Riddle easily.
However, first baseman Donald Lutz led off the sixth with a walk and scored Pensacola’s first run when the Blue Wahoos loaded the bases and catcher Joe Hudson then earned a walk to tie the game, 1-1. Then Chen, who had a bunt single, scored on pinch hitter Ray Chang’s blooper to centerfield that put the Blue Wahoos up, 2-1.
But the biggest hit in the sixth inning when Pensacola shortstop Zach Vincej slapped a two-out single that dropped in front of the center fielder and scored both right fielder Sebastian Elizalde and catcher Joe Hudson. The runs gave Pensacola some breathing room, 4-1.
Vincej said he was just looking for a good pitch to hit.
“The previous at bat, I popped up with guys on base,” said Vincej, who’s hitting .290 this season. “I was just trying to put some barrel on it.”
Four of the first five innings, Pensacola’s first batter reached base. But the runners remained stranded. The best chance to score came in the fourth inning when Pensacola center fielder Phillip Ervin walked to lead off the inning and Lutz followed by smashing a single over the head of the shortstop. But Lutz rounded first base and was tagged out in a rundown.
Jacksonville right-hander Austin Brice, the Marlins No. 14 prospect, ended up pitching five innings allowing two hits, walking four and striking out two. In his two starts this season, Brice has pitched 11 scoreless innings.
“What I saw was a pretty good pitcher,” Kelly said. “Brice threw extremely well. On a cold night, he pitched us inside.”
But it has been Pensacola’s bullpen that has consistently impressed Vincej.
“They have come in and shut the door,” Vincej said. “It makes it a lot easier on the defense. We can go out and play relaxed.”
Wahoos Lose To Jacksonville 2-1 In Nine
April 14, 2016
On paper it was a matchup of the top pitching prospects in the Cincinnati Reds and Miami Marlins organizations.
Pensacola Blue Wahoos southpaw Amir Garrett and Jacksonville Suns lefty Jarlin Garcia delivered on the suggested pitching duel between the two No. 3 prospects in the Southern League Double-A match up.
In the end, though, the Jacksonville Suns pulled out a 2-1 victory Wednesday over Pensacola in a dramatic ninth inning when both teams scored all their runs at Blue Wahoos Stadium. Both teams are 5-2 on the season and tied with the Biloxi Shuckers for first place in the Southern League South Division.
Garrett struck out Jacksonville’s first four batters and got nine of the first 10 hitters out in his six shutout innings. He allowed only four hits and struck out seven.
Meanwhile, Jacksonville’s Garcia allowed a single in his 5.2 innings and struck out six Blue Wahoos before walking two batters in the sixth and being lifted for reliever Tyler Bremer.
Pensacola Manager Pat Kelly said the fireworks between the hurlers was to be expected.
“Garcia was good but Garrett was just as good, if not better,” Kelly said. “We had two pretty good lefties out there.”
Garrett said he has faced Garcia a few times during their minor league careers and was “pumped” to be facing him in his first game in front of the Blue Wahoos crowd.
“I was feeling really good tonight,” Garrett said. “I was pretty pumped up and wanted to make a statement.”
Long after the superb performances by Garrett and Garcia, Jacksonville first baseman Brady Shoemaker scored on a deep fly ball by third baseman Matt Juengel to Pensacola right fielder Tony Renda to make it, 1-0, in the top of the ninth inning.
Suns right fielder Moises Sierra then put Jacksonville up, 2-0, when he tagged from third on a line drive by second baseman James Roberts to left fielder Phillip Ervin, who barely missed throwing Sierra out at the plate.
The game looked over but Pensacola came back to load the bases. Blue Wahoos first baseman Ray Chang hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Ervin from third base, pulling the Blue Wahoos within one run, 2-1, with two outs.
Pensacola catcher Joe Hudson, who had a single, walk and double in his first three at bats, then hit a chopper to third that looked like it was heading to left field. However, the Suns third baseman Juengel cut it off, stumbled but made a force out at second in the nick of time to end the game.
“This team shows a lot of grit,” Kelly said. “They came right back at the end.”
Wahoos Open At Home With 4-3 Win Over Jacksonsville
April 13, 2016
Pensacola Blue Wahoos first baseman Donald Lutz made up for his slow start to the 2016 season.
He was the hero in the Blue Wahoos sold out season opener at home Tuesday when he slapped a screaming groundball to right field in the fifth inning to score two runners and give Pensacola a 4-3 victory over the visiting Jacksonville Suns 
at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
Lutz said it was comforting playing in front of the Blue Wahoos fifth straight season opening sellout crowd. He went 0-15 with nine strikeouts, including striking out five times in five at bats Monday against the Mississippi Braves the day before. But against the Suns, Lutz got some extra work in the batting cage before the game.
“It’s baseball,” Lutz said. “I’m a big believer that it doesn’t matter if you get angry and throw stuff. You can’t get too high or too low.”
He enjoyed breaking out of his slump with two singles in three at bats and the game-winning hit. “When you take the lead it gives you a little phhhh (relief). It loosens you up a little bit.”
The Wahoos came back and scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth off of Esch and chased him from the game.
Lutz had the big hit when his two-out single scored both Amaral and Vincej to put the Blue Wahoos ahead, 4-2. Pin-Chieh Chen got the rally started with a lead-off walk and then scored the first run of the inning to tie the game, 2-2, when with the bases loaded Esch hit left fielder Phillip Ervin with a pitch.
Pensacola improved its record to 5-1 to remain atop the Southern League South Division.
Kelly said this game was a test to see how good the Wahoos are. Jacksonville entered the game with a 4-1 record, too.
“Playing another 4-1 club was a good challenge,” Kelly said. “I wanted to see how we would rise to the occasion.”
The game also featured the right field lights going out in the third inning. They never came back on. However, the umpires decided to continue the game when both team’s right fielders said they could still see the ball.
Jacksonville did get a run back in the sixth when second baseman Avery Romero singled to center field to score third baseman J.T. Riddle from second base.
The Suns loaded the bases in the eighth inning off Pensacola reliever Alejandro Chacin. But with one out, he struck out the final two batters to get out of the inning unscathed.
“Those were tremendous,” Kelly said. “That’s why we love this kid. He’s not afraid. If you’re going to pitch late in the game you can’t have any fear.”
The Blue Wahoos wasted little time to score the first run of the game, when center fielder Beau Amaral led off the first inning by pulling the ball over the right field wall into the Hill Kelly Hill area. Amaral went 2-4 with two runs scored and a solo home run.
Jacksonville shortstop Peter Mooney doubled to lead off the third inning, moved to third on a bunt single by pitcher Esch and scored on a fielder’s choice by center fielder Yefri Perez to tie the game, 1-1.
Northview Out Of District Tourney, Series Continues Tonight
April 12, 2016
The Northview Chiefs were knocked out of the District 3-1A softball tournament Monday night at the hands of Freeport, 8-1 at Northview.
The season is also over for Baker after the Gators lost to Chipley Monday night. In Tuesday’s game, #2 seed South Walton will play Chipley at 5:00 and #1 Jay will take on Freeport at 7:00.
Pensacola Rains On Mississippi’s Day To Capture Series
April 12, 2016
More than two hours of rain delays couldn’t stop the Pensacola Blue Wahoos bats from belting out 13 hits to defeat the Mississippi Braves, 5-1, at Trustmark Park in Pearl, MS.
The Blue Wahoos won the opening-season series by taking four of the five games with stellar pitching and clutch hitting. Pensacola, which is in first place in the South Division at 4-1, leads the Southern League in team ERA at 1.88.
Pensacola took the lead for good, 2-1, in the sixth inning after the second rain delay. The Wahoos went ahead when center fielder Phillip Ervin singled, stole second and then scored on second baseman Brandon Dixon’s line drive single.
The Blue Wahoos then padded its lead with three more runs in the seventh inning. Right fielder Sebastian Elizalde led off the inning with a triple to right field and catcher Chad Wallach singled to left to drive him in to put Pensacola ahead, 3-1.
Shortstop Zach Vincej then doubled to left field to bring in Wallach, giving the Blue Wahoos a 4-1 lead. Vincej scored for the second time in the game when third baseman Eric Jagielo knocked him in again with a doubled to right field, making it a 5-1 game.
Jagielo, who went 2-5 with two doubles and two RBIs, doubled to drive in Vincej, who had singled, in the third inning to put the Blue Wahoos on the scoreboard first, 1-0.
Vincej capitalized by going 3-5 and scoring twice Monday and hitting .381 for the series.
Meanwhile, Jagielo, a 2013 first round draft pick by the New York Yankees who came over to the Cincinnati Reds in a trade for closer Aroldis Chapman, drove in six RBIs and clobbered Pensacola’s only homer in the series.
The Blue Wahoos also learned as thought that they have a strong rotation. This time it was Rookie Davis, who showed why his high school retired his number 24, when he shutout Mississippi through four innings. The 6-foot-5, 245-pounder mowed down the lineup in order twice and started the game by getting the first five Braves hitters out.
Davis earned his first victory for the Blue Wahoos this season, allowing just one earned run on four hits and two walks, and striking out four.
Mississippi finally got to Davis in the fifth inning, tying the game, 1-1. With two out in the fifth inning shortstop Ozzie Albies doubled. Albies, who hit .364 in the five-game series, then scored when Pensacola shortstop Vincej dove and knocked down a sharp grounder by left fielder Dustin Peterson but failed to hang on to the ball, allowing Albies to score from second.
It then started to rain, stopping the game for the second time and lasting more than an hour.
Pictured: A rain delay Tuesday in Pearl, MS. Courtesy photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
McGahan Signs Cross Country Scholarship With Southeastern University
April 11, 2016
Northview High School senior Moriah McGahan has signed a cross country scholarship with Southeastern University in Lakeland. She is the daughter of Greg and Candy McGahan of Molino. Photos for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.
