Biscuits baseball, road series vs Jacksonvile Suns (April 15 – April 19)

After a 4-1 home series loss vs the Chattanooga Lookouts, the Montgomery Biscuits headed to Jacksonville Florida to take on the Suns at beautiful Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, an AA ballpark that could easily serve as an AAA facility.

In the first game the Biscuits lost 3-2, even though the got eight basehits and the Suns seven. Both teams kept the game close but in the bottom of the eighth, the Suns scored the decisive third run.

The second game also ended with a 3-2 victory for the Suns, but this time they needed ten innings to achieve that feat. With only four hits the Biscuits managed to stay next to the Suns, but eventually in the tenth, the Suns scored the third run after two singles and a double. The Suns collected ten hits in this game.

In the meantime the Biscuits had a 1-6 record and were still waiting for their second win.

In game three the Biscuits took an early 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning and extended it to 3-0 on a solo homerun hit by Tyler Goeddel, who went 2 for 3 with two runs batted in. The Suns crawled back in the seventh inning but a ninth inning rally fell short after one run. Biscuits’ starter Jared Mortensen had a solid outing. In six innings he allowed two hits, walked one and struck out four.

The Biscuits’ offense caught fire in game four. After a 3-0 lead, the Suns bounced back with a five run fourth inning. The Biscuits countered with a five run fifth to regain the lead and never looked back. Eventually they beat the Suns 12-5.
Johnny Field slugged two homeruns and drove in four runs as he went 3 for 5. Winning pitcher for the Biscuits was Mikey O’Brien, who pitched 4.2 innings in which he allowed two hits and struck out three.

So the rubber game had to decide who would win this series. The Biscuits’ pitching staff blanked the Suns for nine innings. Drew Smyly lasted only 3.2 innings in which he allowed only one hit, gave up three walks and fanned four. Brady Hagens lasted four innings. He gave up four hits, walked one and struck out three for the win (W 1-1, 0.73 ERA). Jhan Martinez earned his second save of the season as he pitched the remaining 1.1 innings in no-hit fashion. He walked one and struck out two. Justin O’Conner put the Biscuits on the board with a solo homerun in the second inning.
In the third inning with Kes Carter on third, Daniel Robertson singled to right field to drive in Carter for the second run.
Thanks to this 2-0 victory the Biscuits are now 4-6 after two series.

It caught my eye that the Biscuits are now in the North Division instead of the South. After the Huntsville Stars moved to Biloxi at the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, they traded places with the Biscuits.

The Biscuits will now head home for a five game series vs the Mobile BayBears, the current leader of the South Divison (6-4)