M-Braves turn triple play in Sunday’s loss to Biscuits

Published 9:38 am Monday, September 13, 2021

PEARL, MS – The Mississippi Braves turned their first triple play in 13 years on Sunday but ultimately fell in the series finale to the Montgomery Biscuits, 8-0. Hendrik Clementina was the bright spot for the M-Braves offensively, adding two hits and extending his hitting streak to eight games.

Matt Withrow (L, 3-1) made the spot start for the M-Braves (65-42), and helped himself out tremendously in the first inning. After the first two batters reached, Ford Proctor popped a bunt back to Withrow, who started a 1-6-3 triple play. The triple play was the first turned by the M-Braves since July 6, 2008.

The Biscuits (58-55) struck first in the top of the third inning. Connor Hollis opened the inning with a walk and advanced to third on an errant pickoff throw. Next, Niko Hulsizer walked, and Hollis scored on an RBI sacrifice fly by Michael Smith. Xavier Edwards then bunted for a single and Ford Proctor followed with an RBI single up the middle. Edwards came across to score on a wild pitch to give the Biscuits a 3-0 lead.

Emmanuel Ramirez started the top of the fourth inning in relief of Withrow. The Texan finished with 3.0 innings, four huts, two walks, one strikeout, and three earned runs.

Christopher Gau replaced Adrian De Horta after three innings of work. De Horta finished with 3.0 innings, one hit, three walks, three strikeouts, and zero earned runs.

Will Latcham started the top of the eighth inning for the M-Braves. Jonathan Aranda greeted Latcham with a single, and Proctor doubled down the right-field line. Aranda and Proctor scored on back-to-back RBI groundouts by Ruben Cardenas and Cal Stevenson to extend the lead 5-0.

The Biscuits added three runs in the top of the ninth inning. Edwards, Aranda, and Proctor all added RBI hits to push the lead to 8-0.

Hendrik Clementina extended his hitting streak to eight games and has hit safely in 15 of his last 17.

The M-Braves hit the road for a six-game series in Chattanooga beginning on Tuesday night. The M-Braves will wait on an opponent in the Championship Series, which will begin on Tuesday, September 21 at the second seed’s ballpark. Currently, Birmingham has a 3.0 game lead over Chattanooga, and a 3.5 game lead over Montgomery. The M-Braves will host games three, four, and five of the best-of-five Championship Series, September 24-26.

The pitching matchups for the series have yet to be determined. The first pitch on Tuesday night is set for 6:15 pm CT against the Lookouts with coverage on 103.9 WYAB, mississippibraves.com, and MiLB.TV.

The M-Braves will be announcing information regarding Championship Series tickets on Monday.