Four Home Runs Not Enough For Shuckers in Series Finale
BILOXI, MS – In front of a sellout crowd of 6,098 at MGM Park, the Mississippi Braves (33-42) defeated the Biloxi Shuckers (36-37) 8-5 on Sunday evening. It’s the fourth ever sellout crowd in ballpark history. The M-Braves scored in the first inning for the fifth time in the six-game
*BILOXI, MS *– In front of a sellout crowd of 6,098 at MGM Park, the Mississippi Braves (33-42) defeated the Biloxi Shuckers (36-37) 8-5 on Sunday evening. It’s the fourth ever sellout crowd in ballpark history.
The M-Braves scored in the first inning for the fifth time in the six-game series. After a single by Justin Dean, Drew Lugbauer doubled down the right-field line to score Dean and plate the opening run.
Biloxi would take their first and only lead of the game in the bottom of the frame. Braves RHP Alan Rangel (W, 3-2) issued a lead-off walk on four pitches to Noah Campbell to begin his outing. Jakson Reetz hit a line drive home run over the left-field wall to open the scoring for Biloxi and lead 2-1.
Mississippi used a pair of home runs from Hendrik Clementina and Cade Bunnell in back-to-back innings off RHP Justin Bullock
(L, 0-2) to retake the lead 3-2 after three innings. Rangel followed those runs support up by retiring 10 of the next 11 batters to end his outing. The M-Braves tacked out two more runs in the top of the fifth off Bullock. Riley Delgado led off the inning with a double to left field and would be driven in on a Bunnell triple. Bunnell would then score on a sacrifice fly from C.J. Alexander to extend the M-Braves lead to 5-2.
Reetz would leave the park again the bottom of the sixth to cut the deficit to 5-3. It’s the third multi-home run game of the season for the Shuckers’ catcher, the second against the M-Braves. Mississippi used a pair of singles from Justin Dean and Andrew Moritz to plate three insurance runs in the top of the ninth and open up their largest lead 8-3.
The Shuckers wouldn’t go down without a fight in the ninth. Felix Valerio started the inning with a solo-home run over the left-field wall. With Biloxi down to the final out, Jason Lopez clubbed a pinch-hit home run. Campbell followed the Lopez home run up with a single to bring up the tying run on deck before LHP Jake Higginbotham induced a game ending groundout to Andruw Monasterio. The M-Braves capture the final four games to win the series. It’s the first series loss for the Shuckers at MGM Park this season.
The Shuckers will travel to Montgomery to play a special July 4th contest against the Biscuits tomorrow. RHP Victor Castañeda (1-2, 3.27) will go opposite of RHP Jayden Murray (5-2, 2.98) for the Biscuits. First pitch is set for 6:05 PM CT and the game can be seen on MiLB.TV and heard locally on WGCM AM 1240/FM 100.9 oronline here. Individual tickets, Shuck Nation Memberships, Flex Plans, and group outings are available for the 2022 season by calling (228) 233-3465 or visiting biloxishuckers.com.