Three Home Runs Power Stripers to 4-3 Victory over Jacksonville

Solo shots by Forrest Wall, Yuli Gurriel, and Andrew Velazquez carry Gwinnett to series victory

Forrest Wall set the tone and set a Gwinnett club record with his sixth career leadoff home run as a Striper. (Jamie Spaar)

By Jack Johnson (@jackjohnson25)

July 13, 2024

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – The Gwinnett Stripers (9-8) rode solo home runs by Forrest Wall, Yuli Gurriel, and Andrew Velazquez to a series-clinching 4-3 victory over the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (7-9) on Saturday night in front of a season-high 7,050 fans in attendance at Coolray Field. Decisive Plays: Wall set the

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – The Gwinnett Stripers (9-8) rode solo home runs by Forrest Wall, Yuli Gurriel, and Andrew Velazquez to a series-clinching 4-3 victory over the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (7-9) on Saturday night in front of a season-high 7,050 fans in attendance at Coolray Field.

Decisive Plays: Wall set the tone with a leadoff home run (5) to stake Gwinnett to a 1-0 lead. Jacksonville manufactured a run to tie the game on an RBI sacrifice fly by Javier Sanoja in the third inning. The Stripers erupted for a pair in the fourth on a solo blast by Gurriel (7) and an RBI double by Luke Waddell. The lead grew once more on a solo home run (12) by Velazquez in the fifth inning. The Jumbo Shrimp drew within a run at 4-3 after two RBI singles by Sanoja and Marty Costes in the seventh inning. Brian Moran struck out Will Banfield with the tying run on third base in the eighth inning to preserve the 4-3 lead.

Key Contributors: Wall, Gurriel, and Velazquez had the home runs for Gwinnett while Gurriel also had a three-hit outing. Bryce Elder (7.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO) was effective in a quality start. Jacksonville got a pair of doubles by Jose Devers and Otto Lopez and an RBI each from Sanoja and Costes.

Noteworthy: The leadoff home run by Wall was the sixth of his Gwinnett career, surpassing Ozzie Albies (2016-17, 2022) for the most all-time in Gwinnett history. Luke Williams saw his team-high 23-game on-base streak snapped, falling one game shy of tying Gurriel's season-best 24-game streak. Gwinnett won despite going 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Next Game (Sunday, July 14): Gwinnett vs. Jacksonville, 1:05 p.m. ET at Coolray Field. Broadcast: 12:50 p.m. ET on MyCountry993.com and Bally Live. A pair of prospects will start as RHP AJ Smith-Shawver (1-2, 6.10 ERA) goes for Gwinnett against RHP Max Meyer (4-2, 5.50 ERA) for Jacksonville. It's COUNTRY Financial Sunday Funday at Coolray Field, with Pregame Catch on the Field and Postgame Kids Run the Bases.