A FIRST HALF TO FORGET: Strange events stifle Biscuits first half success

Montgomery manager Morgan Ensberg and the coaching staff look on during a recent game at Riverwalk Stadium. The Biscuits ended the first half lof the season Sunday. (Tim Gayle)

By GRAHAM DUNN

The first half of the 2022 Southern League season came to a close on Sunday.

The Montgomery Biscuits probably stated in unison - “good riddance.”

Despite a 4-1 win over Mississippi in Sunday’s series finale, the Biscuits finished an uncharacteristic 28-34 in the first half of the season, good for third place in the SL South Division.

Only a series win over the Braves this past week saved them from a last-place finish, which would have been the first since 2013.

“Winning is the most important thing, always,” Biscuits pitcher Tyler Frank said. “I think we have an unbelievable group of guys, talent wise, and an unbelievable group of competitors. We come to the ballpark looking to win every day. We’re going to get on a roll and we’ve shown that. We can do it, we know we can do it. I just think it’s a matter of time.” 

The first half had plenty of ups and downs and several players had impressive starts to the season. Infielder Curtis Mead was on the top of the list, leading the team in hitting and home runs. He was among the Southern League leaders in most offensive categories.

Before he was called up to Durham, outfielder Grant Witherspoon also ranked among the top players in the league in homers and RBIs while shortstop Greg Jones led the league in stolen bases before an injury sidelined him late in the first half of the season.

Among pitchers, Carlos Garcia was among the leaders in wins while Taj Bradley was near the top among starters with an earned run average under 2.00.

But the first half will be marked by the strange occurrences that plagued the team in May. 

Sitting near the top of the division, the Biscuits suffered through a stretch of eight consecutive losses that was intertwined with a widespread plague of COVID-19 that sidelined as many as 17 players during the stretch.

“We just kept hoping people would start testing negative,” Witherspoon said. “But it’s the world we live in… we were able to get some practice in. the worst part was missing those games. We will never get those games back.”

The Tampa organization was forced to pull up several players to fill out the roster. That meant a few got Double A exposure a little earlier than expected.

“It was interesting because some had never played above the Double A level,” stated  Witherspoon.  “They held their own and I guess they got a chance to see where they are. They weren’t overmatched so that was cool to see them get their chance because some get overlooked sometimes.”

Outfielder Niko Hulsizer spent most of the 2021 season with the Biscuits but was elevated to Durham early in April. He was sent back to Montgomery for a rehab stint in May. It coincided with the COVID stoppage. 

“I didn’t have (COVID) so it was good to be here every day,” Hulsizer said. “It was like a mini break in the season. 

“When we got back… we didn’t get a lot of (at bats) so it was like the start of the season again. 

We had that slide a little bit and i think that was part of it.” 

At the same time, manager Morgan Ensberg left the team for personal reasons. He returned soon after the epidemic ended.

He believed the virus began with the players long before the diagnosis was made. 

“I think it happened a week prior to us canceling the Pensacola games,” Ensberg said. “Guys’ (velocity) were down by 5 miles per hour… that’s not common. Not a lot of guys had symptoms. 

“We had to space out practice time, separating players. There were a lot of logistics to deal with.

“A lot of times when we lose it’s because you mess up on controllable mistakes. I think the downfall was COVID. But if we play sound controllable baseball, we have a good chance of winning.”

The team didn’t seem to recover for the remainder of the first half, although they put together a winning month of June, finishing 12-11 in the final weeks.

The Biscuits open the second half of the season on Tuesday with a trip to Pensacola, which won the division’s first half. The case could be made that Montgomery is a second-half team having won the division four of the last six seasons dating back to 2015 (2020 was canceled due to COVID). The Biscuits have made the playoffs each of those seasons.

Ensberg still has high expectations.

“I think we got through it and we are playing better baseball now.”