
Stars first baseman Hunter Morris(above)hits one of his two solo home runs in 10-5 win over the Jacksonville Suns at Joe Davis Stadium. Photo Courtesy: Huntsville Stars
By Steve Kolbe
Stars first baseman Hunter Morris(above)hits one of his two solo home runs in 10-5 win over the Jacksonville Suns at Joe Davis Stadium. Photo Courtesy: Huntsville Stars
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Blue Wahoos second baseman Brodie Greene(above)reached base three times and drove in a run in a 7-5 win over the Jacksonville Suns July 3, 2012 at the Baseball Grounds. Photo Courtesy: Pensacola Blue Wahoos
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Biscuits first baseman Ryan Garko belted a three-run home run in the sixth inning to lead Montgomery to an 8-3 win over the Jacksonville Suns June 28, 2012 at Riverwalk Stadium. Photo Courtesy: Montgomery Biscuits
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Jacksonville center fielder Donnie Webb paced the offense with a two-run home run, a triple, and three RBI in the Suns 7-6 loss to the Tennessee Smokies. Photo Courtesy: Jackonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
After a 30 minute rain delay, the Jacksonville Suns fell behind early on Saturday night, and a ninth inning comeback fell just short in a 7-6 loss to the Tennessee Smokies at the Baseball Grounds.
The Suns took the lead in the second inning when Kyle Skipworth and Curt Smith each hit solo home runs to give Jacksonville a 2-0 advantage. The Suns have started the scoring in all three games of the series against the Smokies, but have lost two of three contests.
Tennessee put together a big inning in the top of third, sending nine men to the plate against Suns starter Bryan Evans. Pitcher Jeff Antigua led off the inning with a walk, and Logan Watkins doubled behind him to put runners on second and third. Jae-Hoon Ha then singled to left field, driving in Antigua to trim the Suns lead to 2-1. With one out, Justin Bour increased his league-leading RBI total to 54, when he hit a sacrifice fly to center with Watkins hustling home from third to tie the game 2-2.
With one on and two outs, Nelsen Perez hit a two-run home run into the right field stands to put the Smokies on top 4-2. It was his first home run with Tennessee after being promoted from High-A Daytona three days earlier, where he ranked third in the Florida State League in round trippers. The inning continued when Matt Cerda singled with two outs, and that brought Mike Burgess to the plate. Burgess then belted a two-run home run to center field to increase the lead to 6-2. The home run by Burgess is the longest hit at the Baseball Grounds this season. In the inning, the Smokies scored six runs on five hits. It’s the seventh time this season that the Suns have allowed five or more runs in an inning.
The Smokies added a run in the seventh on a RBI single by Jae-Hoon Ha to make the score 7-2. The Suns began their comeback attempt in the bottom half of the seventh, when pinch hitter Paul Gran singled and scored on Donnie Webb’s sixth triple of the season to make the score 7-3.
In the home half of the ninth, reliever Kevin Rhoderick struck out Jeff Dominguez for the first out. After Paul Gran was hit by a pitch for the 12th time this season, Donnie Webb blasted a two-run home run into the right field seats to cut the lead to 7-5. Webb has hit a home run in two straight games, both to right field.
Rhoderick struck out Chris Gutierrez for the second out of the inning, but Jake Smolinski scratched out an infield single, and stole second base. Shawn Bowman then drove in Smolinski with a single to left, and the Suns were down 7-6. With a runner on first, two outs, and the Suns down by just a run, the stage was set for high drama. The Smokies made the call to the bullpen and summoned their closer Frank Batista. In a showdown between two Southern League All-Stars, catcher Kyle Skipworth jumped on the first pitch that he saw from Batista, and nearly gave the Suns a walk-off win by sending a fly ball deep to left field. With the crowd and the Suns dugout on their feet, left fielder Nelson Perez raced back and made the catch on the warning track, and the Suns comeback fell just a few feet short. The Suns have scored three runs in the ninth inning four times this season, but Saturday’s loss is the first time that they have come up short of a win.
Five of the 18 combined hits in the game were home runs. Jacksonville belted three homers in a game for the first time this season, and have hit five home runs in the series. For the Suns, Donnie Webb paced the offense going 2-for-5 with a home run, triple, and three RBI. Webb is tied for third in the Southern League with six triples. Logan Watkins, Justin Bour, and Jae-Hoon Ha each collected two hits for the Smokies. Watkins tripled on the first pitch of the game from Bryan Evans.
Suns starter Bryan Evans (2-5) entered the game with a 2.90 ERA, third lowest in the league. He pitched four innings, allowing six runs on seven hits. Evans had allowed only 12 runs in his first eight games at the Baseball Grounds. Casey Weathers (3-1) picked up the win by allowing one hit over two innings of work for the Smokies. Frank Batista, who finished second in the Florida State League with 26 saves last season with Daytona, recorded the final out to earn his 11th save of the season.
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
By Steve Kolbe
A day after allowing a season-high 13 runs, the Jacksonville Suns rebounded for a 6-1 win over the Braves at Trustmark Park in Pearl, Mississippi on Friday night.
The Suns broke the ice in the first inning against Braves starter Luis Avilan. Donnie Webb led off the inning with a walk, and Jake Smolinski reached on a throwing error by third baseman Joe Terdoslavich, with Webb advancing to third on the play. Avilan then threw his fourth wild pitch of the season, with Webb scoring to give the Suns a 1-0 advantage. The Suns have scored at least one run in the first inning in 18 games this season, and are 15-3 in those games. Jacksonville is now 26-6 when crossing the plate first.
In the third inning, Webb found himself in the middle of the offense again when he led off with a single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Shawn Bowman to increase the Suns lead to 2-0.
Suns starter Bryan Evans baffled the Braves throughout the night, and after allowing a single in the first inning he retired the next 16 batters he faced until the seventh inning. In the seventh, Keenan Wiley led off with a bunt single and went to second on a sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Tim Smith put the Braves on the board with a RBI single, with Wiley scoring to cut the Suns lead to 2-1. Kyle Kaminska took over for Evans to record the final out of the inning.
In the eighth inning, the Suns scored four runs against reliever Brett Cammons, all with two outs. Jake Smolinksi walked and scored when Shawn Bowman hit his team-leading 16th double of the season, and the lead was 3-1. Kyle Jensen extended the inning when he reached base on an infield single, with Smolinski moving around to third to put runners on the corners. Curt Smith delivered the big hit in the inning, with a towering three-run home run to left field to pad the Suns lead to 6-1. After going without a round tripper since the first series of the year, Smith has now hit two home runs in his last four games.
The Suns have won seven of their last 10 road games, and improved to 19-14 away from home this season. Jacksonville has scored at least five runs in six of their last seven road wins. The Suns won for just the second time this season on Friday (2-9). The Braves have lost six of their last eight games overall. Mississippi has won two games in a row only once in the last 22 games.
Suns shortstop Chris Gutierrez extended his hit streak to 14 games with a single in the third inning. He hasn’t gone hitless since May 30th. Mississippi center fielder Todd Cunningham also increased his hit streak to 14 consecutive games with a single in the first. Shawn Bowman drove in two runs for the Suns, and now leads the team with 32 runs batted in. Curt Smith has hit two three-run home runs in the last week, and he now has 27 runs batted in this season.
Bryan Evans entered the game among the top five pitchers in the league in lowest batting average against. He had a dominant performance, pitching six and two-thirds innings and allowing one run on three hits to improve his record to 2-4. He has won his last two decisions. Evans struck out a season-high eight batters, including striking out the side in the second inning and retiring the side in the third on just nine pitches. Evans retired 16 Braves in a row after allowing a single in the first inning. Kyle Kaminska and A.J. Ramos combined to pitch the final two and a-third innings.
Braves starter Luis Avilan pitched a season-high six innings, allowing just two hits and one earned run, but saw his record fall to 1-5 on the season.
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Suns center fielder Donnie Webb went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI in a 7-0 Game 1 win over the Jackson Generals June 10, 2012. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
The Suns-Generals game June 9, 2012 at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville was suspended due to heavy rain and storms. The game will be continued Sunday June 10, 2012 as part of a double header. Photo Courtesy: Jacksonville Suns
By Steve Kolbe
The Jacksonville Suns built a 4-0 lead over the Jackson Generals at the Baseball Grounds on Saturday night, when rain stopped the play and eventually suspended the game in the bottom of the fourth inning. Saturday’s game will be completed beginning at 3:05 p.m. Sunday afternoon, with the Suns and Generals playing their regularly scheduled game Sunday night. Game two will be a seven-inning contest.
The Suns came out swinging in the first inning against Generals starter Steve Garrison. Donnie Webb and Chris Gutierrez led off the game with singles, and with the first two batters the Suns had matched their hit total from Friday night’s 1-0 loss. After a force out, third baseman Shawn Bowman drove in his 29th run of the season with a sacrifice fly, with Webb scoring to put the Suns in front 1-0.
Jacksonville added three more runs in the second, all with two outs. Paul Gran singled to start the rally, and scored on Ryan Patterson’s double to increase the lead to 2-0. Donnie Webb then smashed a two-run home run over the left field fence to give the Suns a 4-0 advantage. Webb has hit two round trippers in his last four games.
Suns starting pitcher Bryan Evans began the game in search of his second straight win. He retired the first seven batters he faced, and allowed just two hits in four innings. Generals starter Steve Garrison allowed four runs on seven hits and was on the mound in the bottom of the fourth with one out when the skies opened.
In the second game on Sunday, LHP Graham Taylor (3-5, 4.93) will start his 13th game the season for the Suns. RHP Taylor Stanton (1-1, 7.56) takes the hill for the Generals for his third start of the year.
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
The Blue Wahoos scored the game-winning run with two outs in the 11th inning for a 3-2 victory over the Jacksonville Suns June 4, 2012 at Bayfront Stadium. Photo Courtesy: Pensacola Blue Wahoos
By Steve Kolbe
Game four of the series is Tuesday with the first pitch scheduled for 8:00 p.m. EST. For the Suns, LHP Graham Taylor (3-4, 4.41) will take the mound. In his last start, Taylor allowed two runs on six hits in a win over Mobile. The Blue Wahoos will look to even the series with RHP Daniel Corcino (2-3, 3.79) on the hill.
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News
Lookouts starting pitcher Matt Magill allowed just two hits and struck out ten batters over seven innings to improve his record to 4-2. Photo Courtesy: Chattanooga Lookouts
By Steve Kolbe
Filed under Ahead Of The Curve, Southern League News