Lugbauer Hits 40th Career M-Braves Homer in 7-2 Loss to Shuckers

PEARL, MS - Drew Lugbauer smacked his 40th career M-Braves homer inside the right-field foul pole, and the Mississippi Braves (47-53, 18-13) lost 7-2 to the Biloxi Shuckers (49-49, 15-16) on Friday night at Trustmark Park.

The homer was Lugbauer’s 22nd of the season, tying him for the league lead. The first baseman hit 18 home runs for the M-Braves last season and is the career leader for the M-Braves. Lugbauer is batting .224 with 22 home runs and 57 RBI this season.

RHP Alan Rangel battled through 4 1/3 innings, allowing three runs off six hits and three walks. The right-hander struck out seven batters, getting him out of some jams as Biloxi left six on base in the first four innings.

Atlanta’s No. 19 prospect fell to 4-5 with a 5.38 ERA in 83 2/3 innings over 20 starts. Rangel has 106 strikeouts to 43 walks.

Down 2-0 in the fourth, Lugbauer hammered a ball down the right-field line that stayed fair to tie the game.

Biloxi retook the lead with an RBI single from Brent Diaz in the fifth to make it 3-2.

In the ninth, the Shuckers put up four runs to extend the lead to 7-2.

Riley Delgado extended his hit streak to nine games with a base hit in the ninth. Delgado is batting .285 with two homers and 19 RBI this season.

Justyn-Henry Malloy and Andrew Moritz each notched two hits on the evening. Moritz went 2-for-4 for the second straight game.

The fifth game of the series is on Saturday at Trustmark Park. LHP Dylan Dodd (0-1, 4.91) makes the start for Mississippi against RHP Robert Gasser (0-0, --) for Biloxi. The first pitch is at 6:05 pm CT, with coverage starting at 5:50 pm CT on 103.9 WYAB, First Pitch App and MiLB.tv.