Late rally gives Pensacola 6-5 win over M-Braves

PEARL, MS -- Game three between the Mississippi Braves (23-25) and the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (27-21) could not have gone anymore off script from the first two games of the series if it had been written in Hollywood. After two nights of prolific pitching, both teams brought the bats to Trustmark Park as a shootout took place in Pearl and the Blue Wahoos claimed a 6-5 victory despite Mississippi out-hitting Pensacola 14-10.
Matt Withrow went five innings and gave up three runs on six hits, including his eighth home run allowed this year. He walked one and struck out five batters in the no-decision. Withrow was touched early, as Gabriel Guerrero continued his hot hitting in Mississippi with a triple in the first. A Josh Vanmeter sacrifice fly scored Guerrero in the very next at-bat to give the Wahoos an early 1-0 advantage.

In the second, Alex Blandino sent his second homer of the year over the left-field wall and onto the berm for the second run of the game. The Braves responded in the home half of the second as Keith Curcio collected one of his two RBI and four hits on the day to cut the lead to one.
In the third, a leadoff triple by Travis Demeritte was plated by a Joey Meneses groundout to tie the game at two. The M-Braves added another run in the fourth on three singles, but left the bases loaded with just a 3-2 lead.
Pensacola scored four runs over the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to tie and ultimately take the lead for good. The tying run in the fifth was the last to come off Withrow, as the righty gave up a walk, a double and a single consecutively with two out. In the sixth, Pensacola roughed up reliever Chad Sobotka for two runs on two hits and a walk. It was a two-out, two-run double by Blake Trahan that gave Pensacola a 5-3 lead.
The M-Braves responded, plating two runs on three hits from Curcio, Ronald Acuña Jr. and Demeritte to tie the game. Unfortunately for Mississippi, that was the last offense the Braves put together and the go-ahead run scored by Pensacola in the seventh proved too much to overcome.
In relief, Joe Rogers (0-1) took his first loss on just a third of an inning pitched, as the lefty was touched for a leadoff single and double in the seventh that ultimately came around to score the winning run. For Pensacola, reliever Robert Stock (1-0) got the win in just an inning and two-thirds and Jimmy Herget picked up his league-leading 13th save in the ninth.
Curcio led the way at the plate with a 4-for-5 night, including two RBI and two runs scored. Acuna added a 3-for-5 effort with a double that just missed being his fourth home run of the year. Demeritte and Levi Hyams added two hits each, and Meneses, Dylan Moore and Jared James all had a hit.
Game four is set for a 6:00 PM CT first pitch Saturday at Trustmark Park.
Pensacola: 6-10-0
Mississippi: 5-14-0
WP: Stock 1-0
LP: Rogers 0-1
SV: Herget 13
Attn: 3266
Time: 3:10