Shuckers’ Home Runs Terrorize Barons Pitching Staff in 8-3 Series Finale Loss

The series finale at MGM Park in Biloxi unwittingly turned into an impromptu, mid-game home run derby as the Shuckers continued their onslaught against Barons pitchers, recording a franchise record six home runs in their 8-3 win on Sunday.

Sunday’s contest began well enough for the Barons and starting RHP Kaleb Roper, who tossed two scoreless innings before giving up a home run to Shuckers’ Joey Wiemer that opened the scoring.

Birmingham batters bounced back in the top of the fourth with Tyler Neslony, Alex Destino, and Raudy Read reaching base and a sac fly from Jagger Rusconi brought Neslony into score to tie the contest at one run apiece. With Destino and Neslony on second and third, a controversial 1-6-3 groundout would see D.J. Burt ejected and the Barons offensive push halted.

Roper struggled in the bottom of the fourth, allowing home runs from Jakson Reetz and Cam Devanney that widened the scoring gap to 4-1. RHP Félix Paulino replaced Roper in the fifth, but would face a similar fate with home runs from Joey Wiemer and Felix Valerio that gave the Shuckers a 7-1 lead.

Biloxi tacked on an additional run in the sixth with Cam Devanney’s second long ball of the game off of RHP Edgar Navarro. Birmingham pushed back offensively to start the seventh, scoring two runs off a hard hit RBI single from Ian Dawkins to bring the score to 8-3.

RHP Taylor Broadway and RHP Declan Cronin suppressed the long ball and scoring overall in the bottoms of the seventh and eighth respectively, but the Barons offense was held to three runs by the Shuckers defense to end the game in the top of the ninth.

The Barons return home to Regions Field on Tuesday, May 17 to face the Rocket City Trash Pandas in their fourth home stand of the season.