Playing With Heavy Heart, Blue Wahoos' Navarreto Gets Biggest Hit

Blue Wahoos catcher Brian Navarreto stood on second base Friday night with joy on his face, carrying emotion in his heart.
Playing in honor of his beloved grandmother, who passed away Thursday, Navarreto did a brief dance, then pointed with both arms and head raised to the sky, after his dramatic, two-run double in the eighth inning became decisive in the Pensacola Blue Wahoos' 5-3 win against the Biloxi Shuckers.
It was a feel-good moment that never felt better.
"I been playing with my heart here…I think she played for me there," said Navarreto, 24-year-old Puerto Rico native, who hit a two-run homer in the second inning of Biloxi starter Trey Supak, one of the top pitchers in the Southern League. He finished 2-for-4 Friday with four RBI.
"I can't tell you, I don't have words to explain it," Navarreto said, referring to his grandmother's influence. "She was close to me, but here we are … giving the best for my teammates and playing for her.''
After reliever Sam Clay followed in the ninth inning by retiring the Shuckers in order, earning his first win, the Blue Wahoos evened the series at 2-2 heading into Saturday's series finale at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
A capacity crowd of 5,038 Friday saw a Blue Wahoos team more energized and productive at the plate than the past two games. They had nine hits, six of those for extra bases.
Navarreto's grandmother, Carmen, was a Puerto Rico native living in Atlanta. Navaretto visited her two weeks ago during the Southern League All-Star break.
"That was kind of like, 'goodbye.' That was tough," said Navarreto, who grew up in Puerto Rico, but came to the U.S. for baseball and attended Jacksonville's Arlington-Country Day School. He was a sixth-round pick in 2013 by the Minnesota Twins out of the same school as Chicago Cubs star Javier Baez.
"Before the game, all my teammates came to me and said, 'We feel you, we got you,' Watching my teammate celebrate with me was an amazing feeling," he said.
Blue Wahoos manager Ramon Borrego was among the first to call Navarreto, after hearing about his loss, to offer condolences and suggested Navaretto might want a couple days off for grieving.
"He said, 'I'm ready to play.' When I see him point up (after 2-run double) it really touched my feelings," Borrego said. "I know he was so tight with his grandmother."
To reach the climactic end, the Blue Wahoos received outstanding pitching from relievers Adam Bray and Clay. Bray replaced started Jorge Alcala in the third inning when Alcala was injured. He pitched the next four innings, through the seventh, allowing four hits, no runs, striking out five.
Bray is a Minneapolis native, who grew up a Twins fan, and the only player from Minnesota on the team.
"I was glad I could come in and eat some innings for the bullpen and help get a win," he said. "This was a team effort. That is a really good club (Shuckers) over there, so to win two from them at this point is a good feeling."
The Blue Wahoos started fast Friday, which itself was a stunner. They had not scored a run against Biloxi's Supak (8-3), a burly righthander, in three previous games facing him.
They had only four hits against him in 18 innings.
But Friday? The Blue Wahoos had five hits against Supak in the second inning.
Travis Blankenhorn led off the second inning with a home run blast into the right field berm. He finished 2-for-4, his first multiple hit game in a week. With two out, Aaron Whitefield doubled down the left field line. Navarreto followed with his home run over the left field fence.
Jordan Gore then slashed a single to left and Alex Kirilloff, who went 2-for-5 followed with a single.
At this point, Biloxi already had a reliever warming up and pitching coach Bob Milacki had been out to try and get Supak back on track. Supak got Lewin Diaz to ground out and then settled down, going the next four innings without allowing a run.
The Shuckers tied the game against Alcala in third inning. He gave up a single and a walk, had Navarreto crossed up on a passed ball and then a wild pitch to score two runs. The ball wasn't immediately located by Navaretto, and it allowed both Max McDowell and Luis Aviles Jr. to score.
After walking C.J. Hinojosa, Alcala had another wild pitch.
Pitching through discomfort, he struck out the next two batters, but after Jake Gatewood singled to score a run, both pitching coach Cibney Bello and Borrego went to the mound and summoned for Bray.
"Every time he stepped to throw I saw him (hurting)," Navarreto said. "When (Bello) asked if he was all right, the face he game me said he was in pain."
Bray got the final out in the third, then worked through the seventh.
"Bray has been doing a really good job all season. I feel good when I am giving him the ball," Borrego said. "Plus we played really good defensive behind him."
Two of those were stops by Gore, plus a sensational diving stop by third baseman Joe Cronin in the sixth inning, who then started an inning-ending double play.
Shuckers right fielder Dillon Thomas had a season-highlight gem in the eighth when he robbed Jimmy Kerrigan of a go-ahead homer by leaping over the right field fence.
But with two out, Cronin and Whitefield both worked walks against Biloxi reliever Marcos Diplan. After going down 0-2 in the count, Navaretto worked it to a 2-2 pitch that he laced down the left field line for the game-deciding double.
"It was awesome," said Navaretto, who made a hit with the Miracle League of Pensacola a couple weeks ago with his on-field work with special needs players in a Chevrolet Youth Clinic. "It always feels great to help my team win."
BALLPARK MEMORIES
For the first time in his career, Blue Wahoos pitching coach Cibney Bello got emotional Friday during the customary, pregame first pitch events.
Two of the people throwing out a first pitch were his daughters, Kiana, 9 and Kierstin, 12, as his wife took photos and video. They traveled to Pensacola from Arizona, where the family lives in the off-season. 
Friday's game was broadcast on Cox Sports Television (CST), which reaches 5.5 millon homes from its Metairie, La. headquarters. Blue Wahoos broadcaster Chris Garagiola was in the TV booth handling play-by-play with analyst Nick Belmonte, a former Florida Gators player and part of the IMG Gator Sports Network.  
Meanwhile, Andrew Chapman, media relations/broadcast assistant for the Biloxi Shuckers, stepped in and handled the Blue Wahoos radio broadcast. It was his second time in that role.
The first 1,000 fans entering the stadium Friday received a blue, drawstring bag, courtesy of game sponsor CPC Office Technologies in Pensacola. In addition, MILB sponsor Echo-USA power tools company, had a display set up at the game and had 100-plus guests at the Winn Dixie.
Pensacola High class of 1994 held its 25th year reunion at the ballpark Friday with one of the organizers throwing out a first pitch.
A father-son tandem from the Pensacola Fire Department, Philip and Tom Hoffman, were honored as part of the Sandy Sansing Auto Dealership sponsored Local Heroes event.