Jacksonville bats stymied by Gwinnett pitching in 4-1 loss

LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – Despite six strong innings from Bradley Blalock (L, 0-2) the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp fell to the Gwinnett Stripers 4-1 Saturday night at Gwinnett Field.

After a pair of scoreless frames, Gwinnett (17-9) opened the scoring in the bottom of the third. DaShawn Keirsey Jr. led off the inning with a double and Brewer Hicklen reached on an infield single. A double steal coupled with a throwing error, plated Keirsey Jr. for the Stripers’ opening run. Two batters later, Nacho Alvarez Jr. brought in Hicklen with a sacrifice fly. In the ensuing at-bat, Rowdy Tellez (5) walloped a solo homer, increasing Gwinnett’s advantage to three.

Jacksonville (12-14) immediately answered in the top of the fourth. After two quick outs, Kemp Alderman singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Nathan Martorella followed with an RBI double, cutting the deficit to 3-1.

The Stripers’ final tally came in the bottom of the seventh. A single and two stolen bases from Keirsey Jr. put him on third and he scored two batters later on a groundout from Jim Jarvis, pushing the lead back up to three, 4-1.

Jacksonville and Gwinnett conclude their six-game set with Sunday’s 1:05 p.m. contest. Coverage begins at 12:50 on ESPN 690 and espn690.com.

The Jumbo Shrimp will hand the ball to RHP Ryan Gusto (1-2, 6.75 ERA).

ABOUT THE JUMBO SHRIMP: The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins and compete in the International League. The 2025 International League and Triple-A National Champions, the Jumbo Shrimp call VyStar Ballpark home for baseball but also a wide variety of additional community focused events with a goal of providing Affordable, Family, FUN to Northeast Florida. Winners of many marketing and sales awards and recognition since the team was rebranded prior to the 2017 season, the Jumbo Shrimp continually lead the state of Florida in attendance across all minor league professional sports organizations.