Fish Farm Report: April 8th

Triple-A Pacific Coast League

New Orleans Baby Cakes 9, Memphis Redbirds 3

Early in the afternoon, the Baby Cakes sent recent major league pitcher Vance Worley to the Hill to take on the Memphis Redbirds in front of 4,648 fans at Shrine on Airline.

Worley pitched five innings of three-hit shutout ball, whiffing two Redbirds and leaving with a 2-0 lead. That was courtesy of a pair of RBI-doubles from #28 prospect Tomas Telis and #12 prospect J.T. Riddle.

Clayton Mortensen took over the pitching duties for Worley in the sixth inning, and promptly allowed Memphis to tie the game at two on a Tommy Pham two-run homer. Memphis’ good fortune wasn’t for long, however. New Orleans batted around in the bottom half of the sixth, taking the lead for good on Peter Mooney’s leadoff home run. Ryan Jackson then hit a two-out, two-RBI bases-loaded single, followed by a Brandon Barnes pinch-hit RBI-single to make it 6-2, Cakes.

New Orleans added an insurance run in the seventh on a pair of doubles and a sacrifice fly from Matt den Dekker, but Tommy Pham smacked his second solo shot of the game in the top of the next inning. Fortunately for the Baby Cakes, the Redbirds only had one Pham, and claimed the win after an Isaac Galloway two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth.

Riddle hit two singles and a double for the game, while Telis finished with two doubles and Mooney added a single to go with his round-tripper. Box Score Recap

Tomorrow, the Cakes will entrust the ball to 29-year-old right-hander Scott Copeland, while Memphis will counter with 25-year-old Mike Mayers. That game starts at 2PM ET.

Double-A Southern League

Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp 6, Mississippi Braves 1

Omar Bencomo started and threw five shutout innings of three-hit ball, striking out four M-Braves for Jacksonville’s second win of the five-game series in front of 3,003 at Trustmark Park. James Buckelew threw three no-hit innings in relief, whiffing three. #13 Marlins’ prospect Austin Dean came a triple away from the cycle, and #3 prospect Brian Anderson hit two singles and a double. Alex Yarbrough hit a single and a triple for the Shrimp.

Austin Nola opened the scoring in the fourth inning on an RBI force out, then Austin Dean hit a solo shot in the fifth to double the lead to 2-0. The Shrimp again doubled the lead in the seventh, on an Anderson RBI-single and a Michael Mader wild pitch to make it 4-0. They added two more runs in the eighth on Yarbrough’s two-run triple. Mississippi avoided the shutout on a Reed Harper sacrifice fly in the ninth.

#27 prospect John Norwood went one-for-five, as did #30 prospect Yefri Perez. Box Score Recap

Mike Kickham will take the mound tomorrow at 2PM ET against Mississippi’s Matt Withrow.

Advanced-A Florida State League

Fort Myers Miracle 5, Jupiter Hammerheads 2

Jorgan Cavanerio allowed only two hits in five innings, while striking out three Fort Myers players in front of 7,117 at CenturyLink Sports Complex. The audience was a stark contrast to the contest the two teams played yesterday, in front of just 444 fans at Roger Dean Stadium.

The Miracle got to Cavanerio in their half of the second inning, on a Daniel Kihle two-run homer. The Hammerheads got even with a Brian Schales RBI-single in the sixth and an Angel Reyes RBI-double in the seventh.

Unfortunately for Jupiter, the Miracle had some tricks up their sleeve for the half of the seventh inning after the stretch. They scored on a Max Murphy single, a Luis Arraez force out, and an Alex Perez double to take the lead for good, 5-2.

Kyle Barrett was the only Jupiter player with multiple hits, collecting three singles in total. #24 prospect Andy Beltre threw a perfect eighth inning of relief work, striking out two in the loss. #8 prospect Stone Garrett went 0-for-five. Box Score Recap

Jupiter and Fort Myers will play again, tomorrow at 4:05 PM ET. The Hammerheads will throw Felipe Gonzalez out there to face Fort Myer’s Keaton Steele.

Single-A South Atlantic League

Hickory Crawdads 8, Greensboro Grasshoppers 4

After opening the season with consecutive victories, the Greensboro Grasshoppers dropped the third game of the season, 8-4 to the Hickory Crawdads with 4,656 in attendance at First National Bank Field.

Dustin Beggs took the loss, starting and allowing three runs (all on solo homers) in four innings on five hits and two walks. He also struck out a pair of Crawdads.

The Grasshoppers opened the scoring in the first inning on a Colby Lusignan RBI-groundout, but Hickory came back in the top of the second with solo shots from Ti’Quan Forbes and Preston Scott. Scott hit another solo shot to lead off the fourth to make it 3-1. Hickory added two runs in both the fifth and the sixth innings, and didn’t face a real threat from Greensboro until the Hoppers put up a three-spot in the eighth on a Jarett Rindfleisch three-run homer. Box Score Recap

Lusignan and Boo Vazquez each had two singles for the game, and Michael Mertz came on for 1.2 innings of no-hit relief. Dylan Lee will start for Greensboro tomorrow opposite Hickory’s Edgar Arredondo starting at 4PM ET.