Late rally falls short in 8-7 loss to Blue Wahoos in 10 innings on Sunday

PENSACOLA, FL (June 9, 2024) — The Mississippi Braves rallied from down 6-3 to tie the game and force extras, but Pensacola scored two runs in the bottom of the 10th to win 8-7 to take the series. The M-Braves head back to Pearl, having dropped four straight one-run games to finish the series.

David Fletcher made his second M-Braves start and third of his professional career on Sunday and took another no-decision. Like his start against the Blue Wahoos (31-25) on Tuesday, the knuckleballer gave up one run on two hits in the first inning. After that, Fletcher retired 11 of the next 13 batters.

The M-Braves gave Fletcher a 3-1 lead in the third inning. Drake Baldwin has had a massive series and it continued on Sunday. After a pair of Alex Williams walks, Baldwin hit a two-run double to the left-center gap to put Mississippi (25-32) on top 2-1. Keshawn Ogans followed with a double that scored Baldwin, and it was 3-1. Baldwin finished the series with 11 RBI, and is up to fourth in the league with 33 on the season.

Fletcher made it to the sixth inning in his second-straight start but ran into trouble. The major league veteran ceded a solo home run to Bennett Hostetler to start the bottom of the sixth and then a one-out solo shot to Zach Zubia. After allowing a double to Jake Thompson, Fletcher exited the game after 5.1 innings. Jonathan Hughes took over and walked Sean Roby, then surrendered a two-run triple to Harrison Spohn and an RBI single by Tanner Allen to go down 6-3.

Fletcher's day finished with four runs on seven hits allowed, walking one with no strikeouts. Over his first two Mississippi starts, he has a 3.97 ERA over 11.1 innings, five earned runs, nine hits, three walks, and two strikeouts.

The M-Braves mounted a two-out rally in the eighth inning to tie the game at 6-6. Brandon Parker hit a solo home run into Pensacola Bay for a second-straight day to make it 6-4. Cade Bunnell followed with a walk, and then Javier Valdes sent a two-run, 397-foot homer over the wall in left-center to tie the game. Parker has four home runs over his last five games and finished the Pensacola series 6-for-13 with two homers, five runs, and three walks. Valdes went 3-for-4, tallying his first homer of the year.

The M-Braves went ahead 7-6 with a run in the top of the 10th inning on a sacrifice fly from Cal Conley. Rolddy Munoz (L, 1-1) came in for the M-Braves in the bottom of the 10th. Joe Mack hit an RBI single to tie the game, but Munoz struck out two straight after walking a batter. Cody Morissette stepped to the plate with two outs and 0-for-18 in his last four games but ripped a two-out single to right, scoring Mack and walking off the M-Braves with an 8-7 victory.

Pensacola won four of six in the series and moves to just 0.5 games behind Montgomery in the Southern League South Division standings with 12 games to play in the first half.

After a day off on Monday, the M-Braves return to Trustmark Park on Tuesday to begin a six-game homestand against the Rocket City Trash Pandas. First pitch on Tuesday is set for 6:35 pm with RHP Ian Mejia (5-0, 1.66) starting for Mississippi against RHP Jack Kochanowicz (1-6, 6.16) for Rocket City. Coverage begins at 6:20 pm on 102.1 The Box, Bally Live and MiLB.tv.

The M-Braves will return to Trustmark Park for a six-game homestand against the Rocket City Trash Pandas, June 11-16. The homestand features a Welcome to Summer Weekend with a Mississippi Braves Beach Towel Giveaway on Friday, June 14, and an Island-Themed Post-Game Fireworks on Saturday, June 15. For tickets and more information, visit mississippibraves.com.