Thursday, September 15 vs. Montgomery Biscuits: 6:35 PM: Trustmark Park
September 15, 2022 – Southern League (SL) – Mississippi Braves News Release
Thursday, September 15, 2022 | 6:35 PM CT | Trustmark Park| Pearl, MS
Mississippi Braves (ATL) (60-72, 31-32, 3rd SL South, -8.0) vs.
Montgomery Biscuits (TB) (68-59, 40-25, 1st SL South, +7.0)
Starting Pitchers: RHP Tanner Gordon (8-6, 5.40) vs. RHP Sean Hunley (7-1, 3.32)
Game #133 | 2nd Half #64 | Home Game #64
Today’s Roster Moves
N/A
Today’s Promotions:
Truckworx Thirsty Thursday™: 16 oz. beers and fountain drinks are just $2!
Free Live Trivia: The Farm Bureau Grill & Outdoor Patio hosts free live trivia from 6-7 pm. $2 tacos will be in the Farm Bureau Grill all night long. Join us for Thirsty Thursday, $2 tacos, and Live Trivia!
Free Military Tickets: All active or retired military members will receive free field-level or general admission tickets with valid IDs. We appreciate our military and welcome all those that have served to join us at Trustmark Park!
TODAY’S GAME: The M-Braves continue a six-game series against the Montgomery Biscuits at Trustmark Park. This is the final series of the regular season. It’s the final countdown.
ABOUT LAST NIGHT: The M-Braves won 4-2 to even the series at one game apiece and snap a five-game losing skid. Arden Pabst powered the M-Braves offense, going 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, and three RBI. LHP Dylan Dodd tossed five innings of one-run ball, earning his second win. RHP Justin Yeager picked up his sixth save with a scoreless ninth inning.
THE SLUGBAUER MAKING MISSISSIPPI HISTORY: 1B Drew Lugbauer has hit a club-record 45 career M-Braves home runs over two seasons and 207 games. He hit 18 home runs in 2021 and leads the league with 27 in 2022. On Sept. 9 at Biloxi, he broke the franchise single-season home run record, surpassing Ernesto Mejia (2011) and Mike Hessman’s (2001) single-season franchise record (26). Lugbauer also set a club record with seven RBI on Saturday, July 2 at Biloxi.
– Lugbauer hit a walk-off three-run homer on July 8 vs. Pensacola and a walk-off single on June 3 vs. Montgomery. He is in the league’s top 10 in…home runs (27, 1st), RBI (79, 1st), XBH (51, 2nd), walks (74, 3rd), doubles (24, T-9th), and total bases (201, 2nd).
GIVE ME MO MORITZ: Andrew Moritz homered in back-to-back games on Tuesday and Wednesday- day, for his first two long balls of the season, logging four hits in each game. In the series, the outfielder went 9-for-18 with two homers, three doubles, five RBI, and seven runs. Moritz became the first M-Brave to log back-to-back four-hit games since Emerson Landoni had back-to-back five hits games, July 12-13 at Chattanooga in 2015. His efforts earned him Southern League Player of the Week.
STRONG STARTING PITCHING: The M-Braves lost eight games in which the starting pitcher made it at least five innings (8/30-9/8), posting a 3.29 ERA (15 ER, 41.0 IP) over that span. The starting pitcher has gone at least five innings in 11 of the last 13 games.
THE GORDON MOBILE: RHP Tanner Gordon is 3-2 with a 2.89 ERA (9 ER/28.0 IP) over his last five starts. He has 27 strikeouts to four walks over those starts. The right-hander’s ERA has improved each month, highlighted by a 3-0 record and a 3.43 ERA over four starts in August.
DODDZY: Since his promotion on July 12, LHP Dylan Dodd is 2-4 with a 3.11 ERA in 46.1 innings over nine starts. Dodd posted a 2.08 ERA in four starts in August, going an unlucky 0-3. The left-hander has allowed no more than two runs in seven of nine starts with three quality starts. INDY BALL: RHP Indigo Diaz has not allowed a run in his last 8.2 innings over nine outings. He has four walks to 12 strikeouts over that span, starting on August 17. He is currently ranked as Atlanta’s No. 30 prospect.
CALL HIM MR. MALLOY: In August, Justyn-Henry Malloy hit .301 in August with three home runs, eight doubles, 15 RBI, 20 walks, 20 runs, and .935 OPS. He shot up the most recent prospect rankings, jumping up 14 spots to No. 13 in the Braves MLB Pipeline Top 30. – Last week at Biloxi, the Georgia Tech product reached base 16 times. He went 8-for-22 with a home run, five RBI, and seven walks.
BIG BAD BUNNELL: Cade Bunnell is currently in his third stint with the M-Braves this season. In 40 games for Mississippi, he is batting .324 with eight home runs, 11 doubles, two triples, 32 RBI, 29 walks, and 1.053 OPS. Bunnell was a 40th-round pick in 2019 by Atlanta. – Bunnell logged his first multi-homer game on August 25 at Birmingham, smashing a solo home run in the fourth and a three-run shot in the ninth. Since being promoted for a third time on August 10, he is batting .306 with six homers, 18 walks, 26 RBI, and a 1.007 OPS in 28 games.
TAKE ‘EM TO THE DELI: INF Riley Delgado keeps on hitting, ranking 6th in the Southern League with a .270 batting average. He holds a 14-game on-base streak. He had an eight-game hit streak from 7/23-8/4 and an 11-game hit streak from 5/13-25. THIS SEASON
AGAINST THE BISCUITS: The M-Braves have won just one of five series against the Biscuits this season. The two clubs met for the first series of the season from April 8-10, with Montgomery winning two of three.
– The Biscuits have dominated at Trustmark Park, winning seven of nine coming into this series. From May 24-30, Montgomery won five of six, with their only loss being on a Drew Lugbauer walk-off single in the 10th inning.
– The M-Braves’ lone series win came from April 26-May 1, where the club won four of six games. The M-Braves pulled off ninth-inning comebacks in games five and six of the series. Riley Delgado hit a go-ahead two-run single in the ninth on April 30, and Jalen Miller won the game on May 1 with an extra-inning grand slam.
M-BRAVES TO MLB IN 2022: OF Drew Waters (8/22), C Shea Langeliers (8/16), RHP Freddy Tar- nok (8/16), INF Vaughn Grissom (8/10), INF Joey Meneses (WSH, 8/2), RHP William Woods (ATL, 4/27), RHP Bryce Elder (4/12), OF Michael Harris II (5/28 from MIS), and LHP Joey Wentz (DET, 5/11) as former M-Braves to make their MLB debut this season. In total, 160 have made their debuts, and 23 have been promoted directly from Mississippi since 2005.
THE COMEBACK KIDS: The M-Braves have come back in the eighth inning or later 10 times this season after just two such comebacks last season. Against the Barons, the M-Braves scored four of the final five runs to win an 11-inning thriller on August 27. On August 29, Bunnell smashed a game-winning grand slam in the ninth. On September 2, the M-Braves scored four runs in the eighth in a 9-7 comeback win over the Smokies.
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