Snelling, McSweeney brilliant in doubleheader split

CHARLOTTE – Robby Snelling and Morgan McSweeney each delivered sterling pitching performances in Wednesday’s doubleheader, with the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp winning game one 3-1 before succumbing to the Charlotte Knights 3-2 in the finale from Truist Field.

In the opener, Snelling (4-2) fanned a career-high 13 batters, the most for a Jumbo Shrimp (79-55, 32-27) pitcher since Jorge Guzman’s 13 punchouts on August 9, 2019 against Mississippi. The left-hander twirled his first career complete game, and the first for a Jacksonville pitcher since Devin Smeltzer no-hit Charlotte (60-74, 24-35) in seven innings in the backend of a September 1, 2023 doubleheader.

Jacksonville got on the board in their first at-bats. Back-to-back one-out doubles from Jacob Berry and Joe Mack brought home the game’s first run.

Knights starter Sean Burke (0-3) served up leadoff home runs in both the second to Kemp Alderman and third to Mack.

The lone Charlotte run came in the sixth. Corey Julks began the inning with a double. Two batters later, he scored on an Andre Lipcius RBI two-bagger.

In the finale, Nathan Martorella and Kemp Alderman broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning with back-to-back home runs off Knights starter Mike Clevinger (5-2).

Thanks to McSweeney, who tossed 6.0 shutout innings with four strikeouts, the Jumbo Shrimp held a 2-0 lead going to the seventh.

However, with two outs, Jacob Amaya doubled and Dru Baker singled to put runners on the corners. Caden Connor then knocked an RBI single to put Charlotte on the board. Corey Julks followed with a two-run double against Josh Simpson (3-1) to give the Knights their first lead of the series at 3-2.

Peyton Paullette pitched a scoreless bottom of the seventh for his second save.

Jacksonville continues their series with Charlotte with Thursday’s 7:04 p.m. contest. LHP Ryan Weathers (1-1, 3.48 ERA) makes a rehab start for the Jumbo Shrimp. Coverage begins at 6:49 p.m. ET on ESPN 690AM and www.ESPN690.com.

ABOUT THE JUMBO SHRIMP: The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins and compete in the International League. The team calls 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.