All told, it was a mixed bag of results down on the farm on Friday, as Atlanta’s four minor league affiliates split their contests and went 2-2 on the night. However, there were a handful of individual performances that stood out.
(12-7) Gwinnett Stripers 3, (13-6) Memphis Redbirds 5
- Jim Jarvis, SS: 3-3, 2 BB
- Brewer Hicklen, 1-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
- Elieser Hernandez, SP: 5 IP, 8 H, 4 ER, 4 K
It’s hard to get any meaningful offense going when your starting pitcher gives up three homers, and that’s exactly what happened to Gwinnett in their loss to Memphis. However, Jim Jarvis continued his incredible offensive display on the year, raising his average
to .411.
On Friday, Jarvis managed to go 3-3 — including a leadoff single off the bat at 104.6 MPH — with a pair of walks to his credit to raise his OPS on the season to 1.081. Coming into the season, Jarvis was viewed by most as simply a potential bench piece in the event of an injury or two at the big league level.
Given his torrid start, Jarvis may very well force Atlanta’s hand if he continues to hit like this and there’s a good possibility he may be the first name called up in the event Atlanta needs a replacement infielder for whatever reason.
Starter Elieser Hernandez worked five innings, but scattered eight hits — three of which left the park — while striking out four.
The Stripers briefly held a 2-1 lead in this one after Brewer Hicklen launched a two-run homer in the top of the fifth inning. However, that lead would be short-lived as Hernandez gave up a pair of homers in the home half of the same inning.
Gwinnett would tack on another run in the top of the eighth inning as Chadwick Tromp doubled home Rowdy Tellez to make it a 5-3 deficit, but that would prove to be too much as the Stripers failed to put together any additional offense.
(8-5) Columbus Clingstones 6, (6-7) Biloxi Shuckers 4
- Lizandro Espinoza, SS: 2-5, 2 RBI, R
- Archer Brookman, C: 3-4, 2B, 2 R
- Cal Conley, 2B: 3-4, 3 R, RBI
- Brett Sears, SP: 6 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, BB, 3 K
Columbus extended their win streak to three games with a 6-4 win over Biloxi on Friday night thanks in part to solid hitting and clutch relief pitching.
Brett Sears got the start on the mound for the Clingstones and while he wasn’t exactly sharp — as he surrendered four runs on seven hits and a walk — he still managed to go six innings while striking out three in the process. The best performance on the mound for Columbus came from reliever Luis Vargas, who tossed two shutout innings while holding Biloxi hitless and striking out three to get the save.
At the plate, Columbus got several key contributions on the night.
Lizandro Espinoza managed to go 2-5 with a pair of RBI, including taking an 0-2 pitch in the bottom of the eighth to the opposite field, plating Cal Conley to extend the Clingstones’ lead to 6-4.
With his performance, Espinoza raised his season OPS to .942 thus far while batting .279.
In additional offensive performances, Cal Conley and Archer Brookman both went 3-4, while the former drove in one run and scored three and the latter scored two runs on the night as well.
(6-7) Rome Emperors 3, (7-5) Jersey Shore BlueClaws 2
- John Gil, SS: 1-4, 2 RBI
- Eric Hartman, CF: 2-4, R
- Owen Carey, DH: 1-4
- Cade Kuehler, SP: 5 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 K
Thanks to a solid outing on the mound from Cade Kuehler and several key offensive performances, Rome narrowly came away with a win against Jersey Shore to move to one game under .500.
Across five innings of work, Kuehler scattered five hits while allowing two runs and striking out three on the night. Not only was it his longest outing of the season thus far, but it was by far his most productive as he gave up two runs in three innings in his first start of the season and followed that up by giving up five runs in three innings his next time out.
On a positive note, Kuehler has only issued four walks in 11 innings of work, so hopefully it’s the start of turning things around for Kuehler.
Offensively, Rome struggled mightly through the first 6.2 innings of play in this one before things finally broke in the Emperors’ favor.
Eric Hartman and Owen Carey had respectable nights as Hartman went 2-4 with a run scored and Carey laced a single in his only hit of the night.
The biggest hit of the night, however, came off the bat of John Gil who, in the bottom of the seventh with the bases loaded, laced an 0-1 changeup back up the middle to plate two runs and tie the game at 2-2.
After what was an encouraging spring training, it’s been relatively rough on Gil recently as he went hitless in his previous three games entering Friday night. Still, he has a pair of homers and perhaps heroics leading to a win will be just what the young shortstop needs to get back on track.
Following Gil’s two-RBI knock, Eric Hartman crossed the plate after a balk was called, giving Rome the 3-2 lead.
In relief, Owen Hackman was excellent as he tossed three innings while only walking one batter and striking out three as he recorded the win for the Emperors.
(7-6) Augusta GreenJackets 2, (3-10) Fayetteville Woodpeckers 7
- Dalton McIntyre, RF: 3-4, 2B
- Junior Garcia, DH: 1-4, 2 RBI
- Tate Southisene, 2B: 1-4
- Alex Lodise, SS: 1-4, R
- Ethan Bagwell, SP: 4.2 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 6 K
All in all, there wasn’t much that went right for Augusta Friday as the GreenJackets ultimately fell by a 7-2 final to Fayetteville.
Ethan Bagwell got the start on the mound and while he was decent — producing six strikeouts across 4.2 innings of work while giving up two earned runs — his offense failed to provide ample support in return. Bagwell has been a bright spot early on this season, as he’s currently carrying an ERA of 2.55 across 17.2 innings pitched to go along with 17 strikeouts and four walks.
As mentioned, there wasn’t much to write home about in terms of the offense despite the GreenJackets tallying just one hit less than the Woodpeckers in this one.
Dalton McIntyre led the way by going 3-4 with a double to his credit, while Junior Garcia tallied a two-RBI single in the bottom of the sixth inning to bring home Augusta’s lone two runs on the night.
Tate Southisene and Alex Lodise each registered a hit as well, with Lodise also scoring a run in the process.
