Birmingham sits one victory from their second consecutive crown
Birmingham Barons 7, Montgomery Biscuits 3
After barely losing on Sunday in a tight one, 2-1, Birmingham came out swinging tonight, and Montgomery never knew what hit them. Rikuu Nishida and William Bergolla set the table with back-to-back singles, and then Sam Antonacci absolutely smoked a double to right, cashing both in.
Antonacci scampered to third on a wild throw, and after a routine grounder and a gift of a wild pitch, he strolled home for a quick 3–0 lead. The Barons even got a bonus life on a dropped foul pop, but Caden Connor rolled over, and Alec Makarewicz whiffed to leave the rally at three.
The Barons weren’t done. In the fourth inning, Makarewicz legged out a triple and Calvin Harris punched him home. After a quick chat on the mound (not that it helped), Matt Hogan laced an RBI single to right, and suddenly it was 4-0. Jordan Sprinkle dropped a sac bunt to move the train along, and Harris came around on Hogan’s second knock. Montgomery finally slammed the brakes with a fly out and a caught stealing, but the damage was done: 5–0 Barons, and the Biscuits were reeling.
A little small ball in the sixth tacked on another. Harris legged out an infield single, Sprinkle worked a walk, and after a harmless fly out, Nishida’s fielder’s choice brought Harris home. Sprinkle took third on a wild throw, but then got caught napping by Tatem Levins, who picked him off. A line out ended the fun, but the Barons were up 6–2 and cruising.
In the ninth inning, just for good measure, Birmingham grabbed an insurance run. Nishida slapped a leadoff single and zipped to second on a bad throw. Bergolla chipped in with a single to push Nishida to third, and Antonacci did his job, lofting a sac fly to left to bring him home.
Birmingham starter Tanner McDougal was just doing Tanner McDougal things. He tossed four perfect innings, with six punchouts, while barely breaking a sweat. The 22-year-old was dialed in, firing 33 of 47 pitches for strikes.
He was relieved by Tyler Schweitzer, who has been living a nightmare in September. Unfortunately, the horror didn’t end for him this evening either. Including tonight’s one frame of work, he’s surrendered 15 earned runs over his last 11 1/3 innings. Schweitzer is one of the reasons the Barons are even in the playoffs, so let’s hope he can turn things around soon.
Southpaw Lucas Gordan entered for the sixth and quickly loaded the bases with nobody out. Thankfully, he Houdini’d his way out of it, giving up just one run on a double play and then fanning Levins to escape. He started the seventh, but after getting one out, he handed out two free passes, so Caleb Freeman came in and slammed the door with a pair of grounders.
For the eighth inning, Adisyn Coffey loaded the bases with one down, but wriggled out of it with a strikeout and a harmless pop up. Tyler Davis got the call for the ninth and made it look easy with three up, three down, and two Ks. The Barons are now one win from their second consecutive title. Tomorrow, it’s all on the line: White Sox blue-chipper Hagen Smith vs. Southern League Pitcher of the Year Ty Johnson. Buckle up.
Category: General Sports
