Biscuits Get Even With M-Braves, Force Game 5
PEARL, Mis. – With their backs against the wall and their season on the line, the Biscuits (2-2) more than answered the bell and took down the Mississippi Braves (2-2), 14-2, in Game 4 of the 2021 Double-A South Championship Series on Saturday night at Trustmark Park. The best-of-five series
PEARL, Mis. – With their backs against the wall and their season on the line, the Biscuits (2-2) more than answered the bell and took down the Mississippi Braves (2-2), 14-2, in Game 4 of the 2021 Double-A South Championship Series on Saturday night at Trustmark Park. The best-of-five series is now tied at two games apiece.
William Woods (0-1) made his Double-A debut on the mound for Mississippi, and the right-hander sat the Biscuits down in order in the top of the first and got Ford Proctor swinging to end the frame. Miller Hogan (1-0) was on the other side for the Butter and Blue, and the righty allowed a lead-off double to Justin Dean and then a single to Trey Harris, but was able to work around the traffic and kept the M-Braves off the board in the bottom of the first.
Woods walked Ruben Cardenas to begin the top of the second, but retired the next three batters in order, striking out Niko Hulsizer and Jim Haley—both swinging—to end the inning. Hogan worked a one-two-three bottom of the second, striking out Greyson Jenista and Drew Lugbauer to end the inning.
Xavier Edwards singled in the top of the third, but was the only one to reach that inning against Woods. Hogan worked another one-two-three inning, striking out his third batter in the bottom of the third.
Proctor walked to begin the top of the fourth, and then Cardenas singled to center. Cal Stevenson then singled to right to load the bases with nobody out before Hulsizer chopped a two-run double down the left field line to make it 2-0 Biscuits. Troy Bacon then came on for Woods and struck out the bottom-third of the Biscuits order to limit the damage. Hogan allowed a single to Shea Langeliers with one out in the bottom of the fourth, ending a stretch of 10 in a row retired by the righty, but retired everyone else in the frame to keep it 2-0.
The Biscuits added four more runs in the top of fifth thanks to a Bacon wild pitch, an RBI-single by Stevenson, and a two-run single by Haley to make it 6-0. An inning later the Biscuits added four more runs in the top of the sixth courtesy of a pair of two-run doubles—one from Proctor, the other from Hulsizer—to increase the lead to 10-0.
Hogan went six scoreless innings and allowed just four hits, no walks, and struck out seven in a virtuosic performance. Tanner Dodson took over for Hogan and worked a scoreless bottom of the seventh, striking out two. Luke Waddell punched an RBI-single into left-center in the bottom of the eighth to spoil the shutout, and make it a 10-1 game.
The Biscuits tacked on four more runs in the top of the ninth on an Edwards RBI-single, a Proctor two-run single, and a Cardenas sac fly to make it 14-1. A pinch-hit solo home run by Jefrey Ramos off Ivan Pelaez in the bottom of the ninth proved to be the game’s final run.
The Biscuits will send Adrian De Horta (1-0) to the mound against Alan Rangel (0-0) of the M-Braves with a Double-A Championship on the line in Game 5 at 5:05 PM CT on Sunday night at Trustmark Park.