Jacksonville beats Syracuse, clinches playoff berth
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Lehigh Valley’s loss coupled with a 4-2 win for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp over the Syracuse Mets, Saturday night gave Jacksonville their first playoff berth since 2017. With the game tied at two, The Jumbo Shrimp (47-27) took the final lead in the top of the seventh.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Lehigh Valley’s loss coupled with a 4-2 win for the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp over the Syracuse Mets, Saturday night gave Jacksonville their first playoff berth since 2017.
With the game tied at two, The Jumbo Shrimp (47-27) took the final lead in the top of the seventh. Maximo Acosta started with a single off Syracuse (30-44) reliever Dakota Hawkins (L, 0-1). An errant pickoff attempt coupled with a ground out pushed Acosta to third. In the following at-bat, Troy Johnston drove in Acosta with a base hit, putting Jacksonville ahead 3-2.
Jacksonville increased their lead in the top of the ninth. With two outs, Jacob Bery singled and went to third on a base hit from Johnston. A wild pitch, plated Berry as the fourth and final run for the Jumbo Shrimp.
The Jumbo Shrimp got the bats going early in the top of the first. With one out, Jakob Marsee (7) and Victor Mesa Jr. (2) crushed back-to-back home runs for a 2-0 advantage.
The Mets slowly chipped off the lead, starting in the bottom of the second. With one out, Luke Ritter singled and went to second on a walk from Gilberto Celestino. With runners at first and second, Yonny Hernández knocked in Ritter with a base hit, cutting the deficit to 2-1.
Syracuse evened the game in the bottom of the fourth. Celestino singled with one out and went to second a walk from Hernández. A single coupled with a sac fly plated Ritter, tying the game at two.
Jacksonville and Syracuse conclude their series in Sunday’s 1:05 p.m. contest. Coverage for begins at 12:50 p.m. on ESPN 690 and espn690.com.
ABOUT THE JUMBO SHRIMP: The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins and compete in the International League. The team calls 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.