Jumbo Shrimp ride Snelling’s strong start to fifth consecutive win

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp pulled out another narrow win over the Charlotte Knights 4-1 Friday night at VyStar Ballpark in Jacksonville in front of 6,847 fans.

Left-hander Robby Snelling (W, 1-1) set the tone with six shutout innings and nine strikeouts while allowing just two hits and one walk.

He received the majority of his run support in the bottom of the fourth, when the Jumbo Shrimp (11-8) touched Knights (7-11) starting pitcher Tanner McDougal (L, 0-1) for three runs. The inning began with back-to-back walks to Kyle Stowers and Maximo Acosta. Joe Mack followed with an RBI single plating Stowers and Jacob Berry provided a sacrifice fly scoring in Acosta. Matthew Etzel was hit by a pitch and Jared Serna followed with RBI ground-rule double pushing Jacksonville’s lead to 3-0.

The Jumbo Shrimp got an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Mack (2) greeted Charlotte reliever Zach Franklin with solo shot to right field lifting the lead to 4-0.

Jacksonville lost the shutout in the ninth inning when Knights second baseman Rikuu Nishida (1) launched a solo blast right off Jumbo Shrimp reliever Josh White.

The Jumbo Shrimp have now won five in a row and 10 of their last 12 games overall.

The series continues Saturday with Jumbo Shrimp right-hander Bradley Blalock (0-0, 1.93) on the mound for Jacksonville opposite Charlotte righty and 2025 American League All-Star Shane Smith (0-0, 0.00).

Coverage begins at 6:20 p.m. on Bally Live, MLB.tv, MiLB.tv, ESPN 690 and espn690.com with first pitch Friday set for 6:35 p.m.

The Main Gate on Georgia St. will open at 4:00 p.m. and fans can enjoy the first Jumbo Shrimp Plaza Party with pregame food and beverage available at Scampi’s Cove as well as the Dock Bar.

Fans can also enjoy Saturday Night Fireworks presented by Florida State College at Jacksonville & VyStar Credit Union and a Replica Jersey Giveaway, presented by Florida State College at Jacksonville & VyStar Credit Union, where first 2,000 fans through the Main Gate on Georgia St. will receive a replica Triple-A National Championship jersey.

ABOUT THE JUMBO SHRIMP: The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins and compete in the International League. The 2025 International League and Triple-A National Champions, the Jumbo Shrimp call VyStar Ballpark home for baseball but also a wide variety of additional community focused events with a goal of providing Affordable, Family, FUN to Northeast Florida. Winners of many marketing and sales awards and recognition since the team was rebranded prior to the 2017 season, the Jumbo Shrimp continually lead the state of Florida in attendance across all minor league professional sports organizations.