BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Birmingham Barons took a series win in the rubber match on Thursday night, as Tanner Banks earned his first victory at the Double-A level in six tries. The offense backed him up as they clubbed 13 hits in the victory including multi-hit efforts from five members
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Birmingham Barons took a series win in the rubber match on Thursday night, as Tanner Banks earned his first victory at the Double-A level in six tries. The offense backed him up as they clubbed 13 hits in the victory including multi-hit efforts from five members of the starting lineup.
Courtney Hawkins and Trey Michalszewski led off the Birmingham half of the second with back-to-back singles and Keon Barnum moved both runners into scoring position with a groundout. This set up Brett Austin 's sacrifice fly to center field, which scored Hawkins from third base easily and got the scoring started.
It would only take until the next inning for the Barons to put another run on the board, this time courtesy of Mason Robbins grounding in to a double play that allowed Danny Mendick to score from third and brought the home lead to 2-0 after three innings.
Birmingham added another tally up in the bottom of the sixth, as Courtney Hawkins continued his hot night at the plate with a leadoff double, his fourth two-bagger of the year. He was brought around to score on a Keon Barnum single to right, and the scoreboard read 3-0 Barons heading into the seventh.
Nick Senzel blasted a solo home run to left field in the top half of the seventh to put Pensacola on the board. Chad Tromp also drove in Josh Van Meter on a single to bring the Blue Wahoos within a run at 3-2.
The Barons added another two runs in their half of the eighth inning on a Danny Mendick line drive to left field that scored Brett Austin from third, and Jose Vinicio knocked in a run when Pensacola first baseman Gavin LaValley brought the score to 5-2.
Jace Fry slammed the door over an inning and a third to earn his third save of the season and the Barons moved to 16-23 in the second half of the Southern League season and 43-66 on the season.
The Barons will travel to Jacksonville for the first time of the season to take on the Jumbo Shrimp for the first of two trips to The Baseball Grounds at Jacksonville, with first pitch set for 6:05 p.m. CT. Right-hander Jordan Stephens will take the ball for the Barons, while lefty Matt Tomshaw will be on the mound for Jacksonville. Curt Bloom will bring you all the action starting with the Coca-Cola pregame show starting at 5:55 p.m. on 105.5 FM WERC and the iHeart Radio app.
For ticket information, game schedule, promotions calendar or for additional information about Regions Field, call (205) 988-3200, or visit www.barons.com, www.facebook.com/birminghambarons or on Twitter: @bhambarons.
