Nottingham delivers walk-off homer in 13th inning Tuesday
BILOXI, MS. - Jacob Nottingham launched the first pitch of the bottom of the 13th inning into the netting over MGM Park's left-field wall to send the Biloxi Shuckers home winners on Tuesday night, 2-1 over the Mobile BayBears. The Shuckers' victory puts them at 5-1, matching the Pensacola Blue Wahoos for the best start in the Southern League.
The 21-year-old catcher had squandered two chances to put Biloxi on the board earlier in the contest, but came through when it mattered most. Both of Nottingham's hits in 2016 have left the park (2-for-19).
Biloxi (5-1) struck first in the third, using a leadoff single from Tyrone Taylor (3x6, R) and a walk by Nathan Orf (0x3, 3 BB). Strikeouts to Brett Phillips (1x5) and Nottingham (1x5, HR, R, RBI, IBB) set up a two-out scoring opportunity for Garrett Cooper (1x3, RBI, 2 BB), who smashed a grounder to second that Jamie Westbrook could not come up with, allowing Taylor to score from second and put the Shuckers ahead, 1-0.
Mobile (3-3) tied it up in the fifth after Ronnie Freeman singled to start the inning and advanced to second on a wild pitch to Dan Rohlfing. The 28-year-old singled to left-center, plating Freeman to tie the game.
Shuckers' starter Josh Hader made his second start of the season and could not work deep into the game as the BayBears worked deep counts against the southpaw. The 21-year-old had just one clean inning on the night in five frames, surrendering one run on four hits and seven strikeouts, using 87 pitches to get through the outing.
Anthony Banda took the mound for Mobile and struck out nine in five innings, and surrendered one run on four hits.
Stephen Peterson (1-0) earned his second win of the season, tossing the final two innings and striking out one.
Biloxi utilized four arms out of the bullpen on Tuesday night: Tristan Archer (2 IP, H, 4 SO), Drew Gagnon (2 IP, 2 H, BB, SO), Hobbs Johnson (2 IP, 2 SO) and Peterson.
The Shuckers, despite the win struggled with runners in scoring position, going 2-for-15 and leaving 11 runners on base. Mobile finished the night 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position.
The series moves on to game two on Wednesday night from MGM Park before the teams shift settings to Mobile for the final three games. RHP Javi Salas (1-0, 1.59) makes his first start since setting a career-high in strikeouts on April 8 against the Chattanooga Lookouts. Mobile will have RHP Yoan Lopez (0-0, 1.50) toe the rubber for his second start of the season. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m., with coverage starting at 6:20 p.m. on the Biloxi Shuckers' Radio Network's flagship station, WGCM 1240-AM and 100.9-FM, and the TuneIn Radio app. The contest can also be seen on milb.tv.
Tickets for individual regular season games are currently on-sale and may be purchased by visiting the MGM Park box office or any Ticketmaster outlet. Season Tickets, Shmini Plans, Group Tickets, Party Deck Tickets and Mercedes-Benz Mini Suite Tickets are available by calling the Shuckers at 228-233-3465. For more details, visit biloxishuckers.com.
About the Biloxi Shuckers:
The Biloxi Shuckers are the Double-A Affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers and a member of the Southern League. For up-to-date news and notes throughout the offseason, visit biloxishuckers.com, follow the club on Twitter (@biloxishuckers), Instagram (@officialbiloxishuckers) or like the team on Facebook (facebook.com/biloxishuckers).