Blue Wahoos even series; Shutout M-Braves 2-0

PEARL, Miss., - In a game that featured arguably the Southern League's two best pitchers, one swing of the bat by Josh VanMeter proved to be the difference.

Austin Ross and Kolby Allard own the two lowest ERAs in the Southern League and Thursday's contest proved exactly why. Ross held the Braves to just three hits over his seven innings while his only walk occurred when he gave Keith Curcio a free pass to lead off the second inning.
After allowing a first-inning double to Travis Demeritte, Ross settled in and only allowed two hits the rest of the night. He wound finishing the game retiring 18 of the last 20 batters improving his perfect record to 5-0.
Kolby Allard, who is the third best prospect in the Atlanta Braves organization according to Baseball America, lasted only five innings and was touched up for six hits in his fifth start of the year at Trustmark Park.
After a one-two-three first inning, Allard allowed baserunners in each of his last four innings. In the fifth inning after Allard struck out Ross, Tyler Goeddel hit a ground-rule double before Alex Blandino popped out for the second out of the inning. That set the stage for Josh VanMeter to uncork his first homerun of the season and put the Wahoos up 2-0.
The Wahoos had a chance to put up even more offense in the inning after back-to-back hits from Aristides Aquino and Eric Jagielo before Allard intentionally walked Gabriel Guerrero to load the bases. However, Blake Trahan ended the inning when he grounded out to Joey Meneses to end the threat.
Pensacola's bullpen turned in another exemplary performance with two more shutout innings in relief. Ariel Hernández pitched a scoreless eighth inning to pick up his league-leading seventh hold of the season. Jimmy Herget came into the ninth and despite allowing a base hit to Meneses struck out the side to clinch his 12^th save of the year.
The Wahoos bullpen has only allowed one earned run in their least 20.1 innings pitched (0.44 ERA).
With the victory, tonight in conjunction with the Shuckers loss to Jacksonville, Pensacola moves into sole possession of first place in the Southern League South Division with their 26-21 record. In the 2017 season the Wahoos have spent 44 of 49 days either tied or alone in first place.
Game three of this five-game series will continue tomorrow night at 7:00 PM (CT).
Tickets to the 2017 Southern League All-Star Game are on sale now! Purchase tickets online at bluewahoos.com or visiting the Box Office. Orders can also be placed over the phone by calling 850-934-8444. The Pensacola Blue Wahoos are the Double-A Affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds and a member of the Southern League. Follow the Pensacola Blue Wahoos at BlueWahoos.com, facebook.com/PensacolaBlueWahoos and twitter.com/BlueWahoosBBall.
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