SL PLAYOFFS: Biloxi pitching silences Biscuits bats to force Game 3
Biscuits starter Yoniel Curet pitched three-plus innings and gave up two runs, picking up the loss in Game 2 of the Best of 3 series against Biloxi on Thursday. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
The weather was perfect and a large crowd was on hand to attend Thursday’s Southern League divisional series at Riverwalk Stadium.
The only thing missing, it seemed, was the Biscuits.
The Biscuits’ offense never got untracked, its pitching struggled early and Montgomery’s playoff jinx continued as a raucous crowd of 5,645 was silenced in a 5-1 win by Biloxi that evened the South Division series at a game apiece in the best-of-three series.
Montgomery has advanced to the playoffs in each of the last nine seasons, but hasn’t won a divisional series since 2007. Mobile, Chattanooga, Jackson and Pensacola have taken on the hottest team in the division and emerged victorious each time. Biloxi now hopes to add its name to the list of Biscuit beaters in 2024.
First pitch for tonight’s winner-take-all game at Riverwalk is 6:35 p.m., with Montgomery’s Duncan Davitt pitted against Biloxi starter Nate Peterson. Military members and Lil’ Crumbs Kid’s Club members will receive free tickets, while students will be admitted for $5.
Birmingham’s 12-5 win over Tennessee evened the North Division series as well. The winners of the divisional series will meet in the Southern League Championship Series beginning on Sunday at the South Division stadium.
The story of Thursday’s game was Biloxi starter K.C. Hunt, who pitched a career-high 7.2 innings and allowed one run, holding the Biscuits to three singles and finally leaving the field with a 5-0 lead when his pitch count topped 90 in the eighth inning.
The former Mississippi State standout, who pitched for Single-A Carolina in April and May, for High-A Wisconsin in May, June and July and for Double-A Biloxi in August and September, has the Biscuits’ number this season. In three games against Montgomery, he has pitched 19.1 innings, allowing a combined 11 hits and two runs while striking out 19 and walking none in compiling a 0.93 earned run average.
Biloxi reliever Blake Holub promptly walked Dru Baker and gave up an RBI single to Matthew Etzel, but retired four of the final five batters to close out the win. Xavier Isaac, who hit a one-out bloop single in the eighth and scored on Etzel’s single, was charged to Hunt.
Montgomery starter Yoniel Curet, the only player on either team on the parent club’s 40-man roster, walked the first batter in the game and hit the second one, starting a trend that continued through the 18 batters he faced in 3.2 innings. He allowed just one hit -- a two-run double by the ninth batter in the lineup, catcher Nick Kahle -- but walked six and struck out two.
His replacement, Antonio Menendez, ran into trouble in the sixth by allowing the first four batters to reach base. Darien Miller singled, Lamar Sparks doubled, Connor Scott followed with a two-run double and Zavier Warren singled to put the Biscuits in a 4-0 hole.
Haden Erbe relieved Menendez and retired the first two batters before Cooper Pratt’s RBI single made it 5-0.
After setting a single-season franchise record for wins against the Biscuits this season, Hunt’s performance gave the Shuckers their first-ever playoff win against Montgomery. No Brewers’ Double-A affiliate has won an outright league championship since the El Paso Diablos won the Texas League Championship Series in 1994. Now, the Shuckers have rebounded from Tuesday’s 9-2 loss at home to the Biscuits and are one win away from playing for a Southern League title.
The playoff crowd of 5,645 was the second largest Riverwalk crowd of the season, only trailing the 6,548 that attended the Fourth of July game against Pensacola.
The winner of the South divisional series will host the Southern League championship series on Sunday. After a day off, the best-of-three series will move to the North Division team on Tuesday. A third game, if necessary, will be played the following day at the North Division site.