Link Report for Sunday 9/20 - Shuckers fall 4-2, Championship Game Monday 6:15 Central

[Mass Haas]

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[Mass Haas]

Biloxi: LHP Josh Hader at Chattanooga (Twins), 12:55 PM Central pre-game, 1:15 gametime; Game Four of a Best-of-Five Championship Series; Shuckers hold 2-1 lead

 

Free Live Audio Link

 

MiLB.TV - Unfortunately, Chattanooga does not participate.

 

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Box Score / Game Log / Game Day Link

 

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Biloxi Media Notes - Posted by noontime today at the Shuck Dynasty blog

 

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Weather forecast:

 

Chattanooga, TN

 

No problems with Mother Nature!

[Mass Haas]

Sunday's Farmhand Birthday --

 

Happy 21st to 1B/LF Juan Ortiz, the Dominican native and LH bat had an under-the-radar nice repeat season in Maryvale.

[Jenkins5]

3ips 7ks 4 Hader....21 year old is pretty good

[homer]

5IP, 10Ks 2BB for Hader.

 

Phillips with a dinger. Looking forward to seeing him play a full, healthy season next year. Don't think we really saw his full potential with that injury post-trade.

[WV Brew]

Hader was great but he was left out there to die. 110 pitches for one of your top prospects? Even within the game context, he had already started to lose it. Barnes couldn't find the plate and then was left in until you fall behind. Why take him out then? Odds are you have lost now, you may as well save Barreda for the final if you don't come back in this game. Here is where they could have used Ortega. Oh well.

[Mass Haas]

Shuckers fall 4-2, Championship Game Monday 6:15 Central

 

Let the "Jorge" discussions begin - Ortega vs. Lopez

[Mass Haas]

Tough sixth inning for Shuckers keep Lookouts alive in Championship Series

Chattanooga plates four in the sixth inning to come back for a 4-2 win

Biloxi Shuckers

 

http://www.milb.com/assets/images/8/1/6/150721816/cuts/Rivera920_lofacc1u_h3kzzfmg.jpg

 

Yadiel Rivera is batting .529 during the Championship Series and added three more hits on Sunday (John Shadrick photo)

 

CHATTANOOGA, TN - The 2015 Southern League season will come down to a decisive game five in the BC Powder's Championship Series between the Biloxi Shuckers and Chattanooga Lookouts, after Biloxi let a 2-0 lead slip away, falling 4-2 at AT&T Field on Sunday afternoon. The Shuckers struggled again with runners in scoring position, going 1-for-7 in that category and have combined to go 2-for-20 in the two games in Chattanooga.

 

Biloxi (2-2) wasted an opportunity to put a run on the board in the first after Yadiel Rivera (3x5, R) and Nick Shaw (1x3, 2 BB) singled to open up the game, but Orlando Arcia (1x3, RBI, BB) bounced into a double play and Michael Reed (0x4) grounded out to third to end the Shuckers' threat.

 

Rivera is 9-for-17 during the Championship Series (.529) with two doubles, a triple, three RBI and four runs scored in the first four games. As a club, the Shuckers are hitting just .217.

 

Josh Hader worked himself into a jam in the home-half of the opening inning, having runners at the corners after walking Stephen Wickens to start the inning, and allowing a single to Jorge Polanco.

 

The lefty from Maryland struck out league MVP Max Kepler, Travis Harrison, and the league leader in home runs, Adam Brett Walker, to escape the inning.

 

The Shuckers broke through in the third with a two-out rally. After Garrett Cooper (0x2) and Adam Weisenburger (0x3) were set down, Rivera singled and Shaw walked to set up Arcia's seeing-eye single up the middle, bringing home Rivera for the 1-0 edge.

 

Brett Phillips (1x4, HR, RBI, R) added insurance in the fourth with a solo home run to right to give the Shuckers a 2-0 lead.

 

Hader carried that lead into the sixth before Chattanooga (2-2) scratched across four runs to turn Biloxi's two-run lead into a two-run deficit. The southpaw finished having allowed two runs on five hits, three walks and tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts.

 

Polanco began the frame with a single to right and moved up to second on a one-out walk to Harrison, ending the day for Hader.

 

Jacob Barnes (0-1) came out of the bullpen and walked Walker to load the bases for Levi Michael, who stroked a single to left-center to plate two runs and tie the game.

 

Another free pass issued to Heiker Meneses loaded the bases once again, setting up Stuart Turner's sacrifice fly to center placing Biloxi down a run. A two out RBI single from Shannon Wilkerson brought across the fourth run of the inning and ended Barnes' appearance.

 

The Shuckers had a scoring chance go by in the eighth after loading the bases with two outs, but pinch hitter Nick Ramirez (0x1) went down looking to end the chance. Biloxi put runners on the corners in the ninth with two outs, but Shaw struck out swinging to end the game.

 

The decisive game five will take place Monday night at AT&T Field and it is unknown who will take the mound for either team. First pitch is scheduled for 6:15 PM Central, with coverage beginning at 6:00 PM on 1240-AM WGCM, 1580-AM WPMO and the Biloxi Shuckers Radio Network. Fans can also listen to the game using the TuneIn Radio app or by going to www.biloxishuckers.com.

 

Biloxi Box Score

 

Rivera, Shaw, and Arcia got on base eight times atop the order, the rest of the lineup reached base twice combined. Not enjoying Brett Phillips in the seven-spot.

 

Biloxi Game Log

 

This September 1st incident has been a killer --

 

Mississippi Bottom of the 5th

 

Levi Hyams singles on a soft ground ball to third baseman Nathan Orf.

Defensive Substitution: Taylor Green replaces third baseman Nathan Orf, batting 3rd, playing third base.

 

We haven't heard definitively what landed Nathan Orf on the DL on this play, but his on-base presence has been missed, even with Yadiel Rivera excelling in this series.

[Mass Haas]

VIDEO: Some Josh Hader for you via WLOX

[Mass Haas]

Lookouts edge Shuckers, force decisive game

By David Paschall, Chattanooga Times Free Press

 

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.-- The Chattanooga Lookouts have played 145 games since opening their 2015 Southern League season April 9 in Montgomery.

 

They will play one more.

 

Chattanooga forced game five of the league championship series Sunday afternoon with a 4-2 comeback win over the Biloxi Shuckers before a season-low crowd of 758 at AT&T Field. The deciding contest will take place at 7:15 tonight (6:15 Central) at AT&T.

 

"We'll see how it goes," Lookouts manager Doug Mientkiewicz said. "To win two games against a team that good is tough. Our kids are facing four quality big-league arms, but we always seem to find a way at the end of a game. It isn't pretty all the time, but when you keep grinding, good things happen."

 

Ending the season on the road is fitting for Shuckers left-fielder Tyrone Taylor. The Shuckers' first 54 games were played on the road while MGM Park was being completed.

 

"Everything we went through with the long road trip makes this all better," Taylor told MILB.com.

 

Added Biloxi pitcher Tyler Wagner: "This has been a special season, now we want to finish it off."

 

One more triumph by the Lookouts would result in their first Southern League title since 1988, when they were in their first season as Class AA affiliates of the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds and Lookouts partnered for 21 seasons until Chattanooga began a six-year pairing with the Los Angeles Dodgers after the 2008 season. Chattanooga is in its first season as an affiliate of the Minnesota Twins.

 

"We've got a lot of momentum coming off this win today, and we're excited about tomorrow," Lookouts second baseman Levi Michael said. "It all comes down to this."

 

Biloxi was in position to win the series in four games Sunday, taking a 2-0 lead on an Orlando Arcia RBI single to center field in the third inning and a Brett Phillips home run to right-center in the fourth. Shuckers starting pitcher Josh Hader struck out 10 batters in five scoreless innings but was pulled after allowing two of the first three Lookouts to reach in the sixth.

 

Jacob Barnes replaced Hader and promptly gave up a walk to Adam Brett Walker that loaded the bases and a single to left by Michael that tied the game. A walk to Heiker Meneses loaded the bases again, and then a Stuart Turner sacrifice fly to center gave the Lookouts a 3-2 lead.

 

Shannon Wilkerson capped the scoring on a single to left that scored Michael.

 

"All day long, we were trying to get in a positive count," Michael said. "I got a couple of pitches over the plate and didn't try and do too much with them. We showed again today that we finish strong. We never quit. We never give up."

 

The Shuckers attempted a rally in the eighth inning, loading the bases with two outs against Nick Burdi, who had worked a smooth seventh. Mientkiewicz replaced Burdi with J.T. Chargois, who struck out Biloxi pinch-hitter Nick Ramirez.

 

Chargois also worked the ninth, allowing a walk and a single, before picking up the save.

 

"If he's going to pitch in the big leagues, that's what he's going to need to do," Lookouts pitching coach Stu Cliburn said. "He came in and did the job."

 

Tonight will mark Chattanooga's first appearance in a fifth game of the championship series since 1995. Biloxi is scheduled to start Jorge Ortega, while the Lookouts could tab D.J. Baxendale, who started last Wednesday's series opener.