SL PLAYOFFS: Biscuits blow off delay to win Game 1 over Blue Wahoos

Brett Wisely receives the homer helmet from Nico Hulsizer after his leadoff shot in the first inning in Game 1 of the Best-of-3 series against Pensacola at Riverwalk Stadium on Tuesday. (Tim Gayle)

By TIM GAYLE

Pensacola wrestled the momentum away from the Montgomery Biscuits with a two-run third inning and a 51-minute rain delay.

Kameron Misner got it back on one pitch.

Fifty-one minutes after the Blue Wahoos tied the game and a brief thunderstorm brought a delay, Misner sent Josan Mendez’s first pitch over the left field wall to put the Biscuits ahead for good for a 5-2 victory in the first game of the Southern League’s South Division series at Riverwalk Stadium on Tuesday night in front of 3,984 fans.

The best-of-three division series now moves to Blue Wahoos Park for a Thursday night game. A Montgomery victory would bring the Biscuits back to Riverwalk for a best-of-three championship series on Sunday afternoon. A Pensacola victory will force a third and deciding game on Friday night.

Montgomery has lost in the division series each of its last six appearances since winning back-to-back Southern League titles in 2006 and 2007, so it was important to get off to a good start by winning Game One at Riverwalk.

Brett Wisely accomplished that with a leadoff homer to right in the bottom of the first inning. Niko Hulsizer singled in Osleivis Basabe minutes later to give the Biscuits a 2-0 lead.

Pensacola tied it up in the third inning on a two-out, two-run single by Norel Gonzalez just as the skies opened up with a brief but heavy downpour. After the grounds crew prepared the field for the resumption of play, Misner hit an opposite-field shot that barely cleared the left field wall for his 17th homer of the season and a 3-2 lead.

Two innings later, in his next at-bat, he would do it again, this time with a shot in the direction of the scoreboard that carried with ease over the wall, tying Hulsizer for the team lead in home runs at 18.

Wisely drove in an insurance run in the eight with a hit-and-run single that scored Jordan Qsar, who had reached base on a double that was misplayed by Gonzalez in right field.

Biscuits starter Michael Mercado allowed two runs on five hits over the first four innings. Relievers Joe LaSorsa, Justin Sterner, Chris Gau and Jose Lopez allowed just three hits over the final five innings.  

The Biscuits were careful with Pensacola left fielder Griffin Conine, who ranks second in home runs (24) in the Southern League and leads the minor leagues in home runs (60) over the last two years. Conine struck out in the first, popped up with two runners on in the third, singled in the fifth and grounded out in the seventh.

The Biscuits (71-61) are 16-10 vs. the Blue Wahoos (68-64) this season, with five more meetings postponed by a coronavirus outbreak on the Biscuits back in May. Montgomery and Pensacola both reached the divisional playoffs each year between 2015 and 2019 but were in different divisions and therefore never played each other in the postseason.

There was no season in 2020 and in 2021 there was no divisional playoffs. Montgomery and Mississippi faced each other in the championship series.  

In the North Division series, Rocket City used a four-run fifth to break open the game and cruise to a 9-5 win over Tennessee at Smokies Stadium in front of 4,974 fans on Tuesday. Zach Neto, Preston Palmeiro -- who led off the game with a home run -- and Jeremiah Jackson each drove in two runs, helping to turn a three-run lead into a 7-0 lead in the fifth.

SOUTHERN LEAGUE PLAYOFFS

SOUTH DIVISION

Game 1, Montgomery 5, Pensacola 2

Game 2, Montgomery at Pensacola, Blue Wahoos Park, Thursday, 6:05 p.m.

Game 3 (if necessary), Montgomery at Pensacola, Blue Wahoos Park, Friday, 6:05 p.m.

NORTH DIVISION

Game 1, Rocket City 9, Tennessee 5

Game 2, Tennessee at Rocket City, Toyota Field, Thursday, 6:35 p.m.

Game 3 (if necessary), Tennessee at Rocket City, Toyota Field, Friday, 6:35 p.m.

CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES

Game 1, Rocket City/Tennessee at Montgomery/Pensacola, Sunday, TBA

Game 2, Montgomery/Pensacola at Rocket City/Tennessee, Tuesday, TBA

Game 3 (if necessary), Montgomery/Pensacola at Rocket City/Tennessee, TBA