JACKSON, Tenn. - The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (1-1, 31-41) defeated the Jackson Generals (1-1, 38-34) by a 9-4 score in the second game of the five-game series at The Ballpark at Jackson on Friday night.
JACKSON, Tenn. - The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp (1-1, 31-41) defeated the Jackson Generals (1-1, 38-34) by a 9-4 score in the second game of the five-game series at The Ballpark at Jackson on Friday night.
Jacksonville starter Trevor Richards earned the victory making his Double-A and Southern League debut. Richards pitched five and a third innings where he allowed three runs on seven hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Jackson left-handed starter Alex Young (4-4) took the loss, giving up four runs on eight hits with three walks and two strikeouts during his four innings of work.
John Norwood started a big night at the plate in the top of the first with an RBI single to give Jacksonville an early 1-0 lead. The Generals quickly tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first with Kevin Cron delivering an RBI double. In the bottom of the second, the Generals took the lead when Evan Marzilli was caught stealing at second, Victor Reyes scored from third to put the lead at 2-1.
Norwood got Jacksonville back in front for good in the top of the third with a two-run homer to give the Jumbo Shrimp a 3-2 lead. The blast was Norwood's tenth of the season, and he is now tied for the team lead in that category with Brian Anderson. In the top of the fourth Austin Nola added to the advantage with an RBI single to grow the lead to 4-2.
The next two innings saw big hits from Jacksonville's middle infielders. In the top of the fifth shortstop Chris Diaz delivered a two-run double to put the lead at 6-2, then in the sixth second baseman Alex Yarbrough also added a two-RBI double to grow the lead to 8-2.
Jackson's Domingo Leyba homered off Richards in the bottom of the sixth to put the score at 8-3. The clubs traded runs in the ninth inning. Jeremias Pineda hit a triple that would be rewarded by a sacrifice fly by Nola to put the lead at 9-3. In the bottom of the ninth Michael Perez hit an RBI double to center to cut Jacksonville's lead to 9-4, which would be the final score.
The Jumbo Shrimp tied a season high with 14 hits in the contest, with Norwood having a 3-for-6 performance with three runs batted in. In addition to Norwood, four other Jumbo Shrimp had two hits: Pineda, Anderson, Yarbrough, and Diaz.
Following Richards' start, Daniel Schlereth worked a scoreless inning and two-thirds out of Jacksonvlle's bullpen before Severino González worked the final two innings.
The Jumbo Shrimp and Generals will continue their series with the third game of the five-game set on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m. ET. Left-handed pitcher Mike Kickham (4-3, 2.23 ERA) will start for the Jumbo Shrimp against Generals left-handed pitcher Joel Payamps (2-1, 2.40 ERA). Fans can listen to the game on the Jumbo Shrimp Network presented by Community First, beginning at 6:50 p.m. ET with the pregame show "Shrimp On Deck" on FM 100.3 & AM 1600 The Biz, the TuneIn Radio app, and www.jaxshrimp.com.
ABOUT THE JUMBO SHRIMP: The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are beginning a new era of affordable family fun with the 2017 season presented by Community First Credit Union at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville. With a new lineup of ticket and group options, there is a reason for everyone to get part of the action by calling the Jumbo Shrimp at (904) 358-2846 or visiting www.jaxshrimp.com.
