Biscuits score late to wrap up first-half title in Southern League South

Nick Schnell drove in what proved to be the winning run in the eighth inning to lead the Biscuits to the win and a first-half title in the Southern League South Division. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

The last day of the first-half Southern League division race provided plenty of drama. 

The Montgomery Biscuits, clinging to a half-game lead over Pensacola in the Southern League South Division, were playing the Birmingham Barons, clinging to a half-game lead over Tennessee in the Southern League North Division.

The Biscuits (40-29) owning a two-run lead midway through the game, allowed a run in the sixth and another in the seventh to tie the game, then answered with a run in the bottom of the eighth to edge the Barons 5-4 at Riverwalk Stadium on Sunday and win the first-half title for only the third time in franchise history.

Bob Seymour homered in the first for a 1-0 lead and Kenny Piper hit a two-run home run in the fourth to give Montgomery a 3-2 lead. After the Barons tied it up in the seventh, Nick Schnell singled in Mason Auer for the game-winning run in the eighth.

Alfredo Zarraga retired the Barons in order in the top of the ninth for his fourth save.

Montgomery, which won both halves of the division race in 2007 and 2019, clinched a spot in the Southern League playoffs for the ninth consecutive season (2015-19, 2021-24). The Biscuits will play the second-half South Division winner in a best-of-three divisional series beginning Sept. 17.

The winner will then face the North winner in the championship series.

Montgomery held off the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (38-30) down the stretch by winning seven of its final nine games. But an extra-inning loss on Saturday left the Biscuits clinging to a half-game lead heading into the final day. Montgomery was in first place in the South Division for 45 of the league’s 69 games, including the final nine and 31 of the final 33.

Despite the loss, Birmingham finished with the Southern League’s best first-half record at 41-28 and clinched a berth in the playoffs with Mississippi’s 9-7 win over Tennessee (40-28) to win the North Division’s first-half title.

The Biscuits will take Monday off, then start the second half of the season with a six-game series at Mississippi starting Tuesday, followed by a three-game series at Pensacola on July 1-3. Montgomery plays its first home game of the second half on the Fourth of July against the Blue Wahoos at 6:35 p.m.