Record
2-4 (September 3-8)
67-59 (overall, 4th place of 8)
28-35 (second half, 6th place of 8)

The Barons dropped four to the Pensacola Blue Wahoos, getting outscored 23-17, and dropped from third to fourth place in the division, as if losing four times to a team called the “Blue Wahoos” wasn’t bad enough.

Over the past seven days, the Barons have slashed .232/.310/.286, posting a .596 OPS, which ranked six of all eight teams. Wilfred Veras was the top offensive performer of the week, with the highest OPS on the team (.878), and the top slugging percentage (.455). You know the offense was mostly dead throughout the week when only one home run was hit — we can thank Jacob Gonzalez for that.

On the other side of the ball, Birmingham ranked third in the division in terms of ERA over the last week (2.78). The bullpen proved to be highly efficient throughout the week, but a few bad innings and lack of run support certainly made matters worse. Riley Gowens was the top starter, posting a 0.90 ERA across his 10 innings, allowing just one earned run.

September 3: Pensacola Blue Wahoos 5, Birmingham Barons 1
It was a subpar start to the series, with the Barons dropping game one to the Blue Wahoos, 5-1. Riley Gowens (5 IP, 6 H, HR, 4 R/0 ER, 6 K) had a tough break in the top of the first, with an error by first baseman, Shawn Goosenberg, leading to four unearned runs for Pensacola right off the bat. Although it wasn’t his best outing, he still struck out four batters and didn’t allow many base runners after the first.

Birmingham was chasing four early in the game, and earned one one back in the bottom of the first. Recent call-up Rikuu Nishida singled to start the inning, and scored on a wild pitch a few batters later. That would unfortunately be the lone run for the Barons, and outside of Wilfred Veras racking up three hits, the clutch factor was just not there. This was proven by the Barons going 0-for-8 with RISP, and leaving eight on base as a team.

Jordan Mikel allowed the final Pensacola run in the sixth. Gil Luna and Andrew Dalquist had efficient innings out of the bullpen, but without the bats doing their part, it sadly didn’t make a difference.

Game MVPs
Wilfred Veras (RF) 3-for-4, 2B, SB
Rikuu Nishida (2B) 2-for-4, R, CS

September 4: Pensacola Blue Wahoos 5, Birmingham Barons 1 (10 innings)
Although it was the same final score as the night before with the Barons losing, 5-1, it was a completely different journey to get there. The Barons scored first, in the bottom of the second inning, after Terrell Tatum walked with the bases loaded to score DJ Gladney.

The pitchers held up their end of the deal, but you simply aren’t going to win a game without runs to back them up. Garrett Schoenle gave up just one run in the fourth in an otherwise strong, four-hit outing. For the remaining 5 1/3 innings, the bullpen was as efficient as you could ask them to be, with Max Roberts, Peyton Pallette and Zach Franklin combining for four hits and four strikeouts.

Things fell off the rails, however, in the top of the 10th with Eric Adler (1 IP, H, HR, 4 R/3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K) on the mound. The tie was officially broken after a rather bizarre sequence of events: Wild pitch, walk, stolen base (second), strikeout, walk, wild pitch (run scores), and finally, a three-run home run. Birmingham followed that up going three-up-three-down in the bottom of the 10th to end the game.

Game MVPs
DJ Gladney (RF) 2-for-4, R, K
Garrett Schoenle (SP) 3 2/3 IP, 4 H, R, 3 K
Peyton Pallette (RHRP) 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, K

September 5: Birmingham Barons 4, Pensacola Blue Wahoos 1
Thursday was a much brighter day for the Barons! They snagged game three following yet another commanding start from Juan Carela, who earned the win after giving up just one run over five innings, striking out five in the process.

Rikkuu Nishida (1-for-3, R, RBI, BB) and Wilfred Veras (1-for-4, RBI, K) provided Carela with two runs of support in the bottom of the third, each driving in a run on a base hit to left. Pensacola cut the score in half in the following inning, but Terrell Tatum drove in another run in the fourth to make up for it. The final run was scored by Jason Matthews on yet another wild pitch, which seemed to be a theme across both teams all week.

Jake Palisch and Caleb Freeman were excellent out of the bullpen as well, with Palish going for three strong innings of two-hit ball, the only base runners that the Blue Wahoos would have the rest of the game. Freeman closed it out with a 1-2-3 inning to seal their first win of the series.

Game MVPs
Juan Carela (SP) 4 H, R, BB, 5 K
Terrell Tatum (CF) 2-for-2, RBI, SB
Jake Palisch (LHRP) 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, HOLD

September 6: Pensacola Blue Wahoos 3, Birmingham Barons 0
Friday wasn’t Tyler Schweitzer’s worst start, but it most certainly wasn’t his best. He seemed to struggle with command and created a jam right away in the top of the first. He walked the first batter of the game, gave up a hit, threw a wild pitch, walked a second batter to load the based with two outs, but thankfully had his defense behind him to prevent any runs from scoring.

Chase Plymell and Andrew Dalquist followed up with a much better performance. Plymell gave up just two hits over three innings, and Dalquist struck out two in his one inning. The brutal part about this game was that the Barons didn’t even get out-hit, they matched the Blue Wahoos at six hits, but were complete flat, going 0-for-10 with RISP, and left a whopping 11 runners on base.

Rikuu Nishida was a bright spot on the offense with three hits, but Birmingham could never get a rally going.

Game MVPs
Chase Plymell (RHRP) 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
Andrew Dalquist (RHRP) 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Rikuu Nishda (2B) 3-for-5, SB

September 7: Birmingham Barons 6, Pensacola Blue Wahoos 4
The Blue Wahoos got on the board first, with three runs scored off of Noah Schultz in the top of the second. Only one was earned, however, as a fielding error from Rikuu Nishida allowed Pensacola to score two additional runs in the inning. Schultz was otherwise efficient in his 3 2/3 innings, giving up three hits, walking one, and striking out five. Schultz remains at an exceptional 1.42 ERA after 15 starts in Birmingham.

The offense answered back in the bottom fo the third, going on a five-run rally that began with base hits from Rikkuu Nishida and Mario Camilletti (1-for-2, R, 3 BB, K), and capped off by a three-run shot from Jacob Gonzlez to take the lead, 5-3.

Wilfred Veras (1-for-5, 2B, R, RBI, K) doubled in the bottom of the fourth to score the sixth and final run for the Barons, giving the bullpen a third insurance run. As proof why insurance runs are always important, Max Roberts walked three straight batters to load the bases in the eighth, and allowed the fourth run for the Blue Wahoos to score on a sac fly. He walked another before being pulled, but Eric Adler (1 1/3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, K) got out of it and closed it out perfectly in the ninth.

Game MVPs
Jacob Gonzalez (RHRP) 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K
Noah Schultz (SP) 3 2/3 IP, 3 H, 3 R/1 ER, BB, 5 K
DJ Gladney (RF) 2-for-4, R, 2 RBI, K

September 8: Pensacola Blue Wahoos 6, Birmingham Barons 5
Riley Gowens had another strong start to finish out the series, giving up just one run in five innings on a solo homer in the fifth, and striking out five along the way. Gowens had two runs of support for nearly the entirety of his outing, thanks to an RBI single from Weston Eberly (1-for-4, R, RBI, BB, K) and an RBI double from Matt Hogan (1-for-4, 2B, RBI, K) in the bottom of the second.

While the bullpen had been lights-out for the Barons this entire series, Jordan Mikel followed up Gowens’ performance by giving up three runs for the Blue Wahoos to take the lead, ultimately earning a blown save on his way to a loss. Caleb Freeman was the only Barons reliever with a clean inning, striking out two Pensacola batters in the eighth.

Birmingham went into the bottom of the ninth chasing four, and nearly came all the way back scoring three runs before making the final out. Wilfred Veras (2-for-3, 2B, R, BB, K, CS) ignited the rally with a double to center, who scored a couple batters later on an RBI single from Nick Podkul. Michael Turner drove another two on blooper behind the third baseman, although the rally (and fun) ended after Weston Eberly (1-for-4, R, RBI, BB, K) popped out to first to end the game.

Game MVPs
Caleb Freeman (RHRP) 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K
Michael Turner (1B) 2-for-4, 2 RBI, BB, K
Nick Podkul (3B) 2-for-5, 2B, 2 R, RBI, 2 K

Seven-Day Batting

Seven-Day Pitching