M-Braves Eliminated with Loss in Jacksonville

Jacksonville, FL -The Mississippi Braves' playoff hopes were dashed Sunday night as the Jacksonville Suns played the role of spoiler, winning 7-3 at Bragan Field to give Pensacola the final Southern League playoff ticket.

 

The Blue Wahoos defeated Mobile 15-2 Sunday afternoon, then watched at Bayfront Stadium as Jacksonville (28-41, 57-81) pulled away in the early innings against the M-Braves (36-32, 69-67) and starter Stephen Janas (2-8).

 

Levi Hyams started the scoring for Mississippi in the top of the first as he crushed his third homer of the year, a solo shot to the last row of the right field bleachers.

 

But the Suns came back with four in the bottom of the opening frame. Janas got Kenny Wilson to ground out to short to start the inning, but Terrence Dayleg, David Adams, Viosergy Rosa and Ryan Rieger hit four straight singles, the last two to drive in a run apiece for a 2-1 lead.

 

Two batters later, Danny Black drove in two more with a double down the left field line to grow the lead to 4-1.

 

Jacksonville added three more to their lead in the third. Janas walked Rosa to start the inning and Eudy Pina singled to put men at the corners. Pina stole second base, and Black drove in two with a single to extend the lead to 6-1.

 

Chris Hoo followed with a single, and Suns starter Matt Tomshaw bunted into a force out at third for the second out. With men at first and second, Wilson singled to reliever Andrew Barbosa, who threw it away down the right field line to plate another run for a 7-1 lead.

 

Janas took the loss, allowing seven runs, six earned, on 10 hits in 2 1/3 innings.

 

The M-Braves pulled closer with a run in the fourth off Tomshaw. Rio Ruiz hit a two-out ground rule double to left, and David Rohm followed with a double to the left-center gap to pull the deficit to 7-2.

 

Tomshaw grabbed the win, allowing just two runs on three hits over seven innings. He struck out eight and walked one.

 

Mississippi posted their largest comeback threat in the eighth. Reliever Juancito Martinez gave up a leadoff single to Matt Lipka and walked Emerson Landoni and Hyams to load the bases. A wild pitch pulled the deficit to 7-3, and Martinez walked Ahrens to load the bags again.

 

Jacksonville brought Kyle Fischer (S, 1) on in relief, and Adams robbed KD Kang of an RBI knock with a diving grab at second. Ruiz grounded out to second to end the threat, and the M-Braves never threatened again.

 

The M-Braves and Suns will battle Monday afternoon at 12:05 PM CT at Bragan Field in the 2015 season finale, sending right-hander Greg Ross (7-9, 3.99) against Suns right-hander Austin Brice (6-9, 4.67).

 

Mississippi Braves (36-32, 69-67)              3 R          4 H         1 E
Jacksonville Suns (28-41, 57-81)       7 R          14 H       0 E

 

W - Tomshaw (6-10)
L - Janas (2-8)
S - Fischer (1)
Time: 2:41
Attendance: 5,439