Mississippi drops Game 1 of Championship Series

Despite a solid start from Jared Shuster the Mississippi offense was mystified by an upstart Biscuits team

The top seeded Mississippi Braves dropped game one of the championship series 7-1 on Tuesday night. Jared Shuster pitched effectively for a majority of the game, giving up just one run through the game first four innings. Things began to unravel for him and Missisippi in the fifth inning when the Biscuits scored five runs and pulled away for their game one win. Shuster showed off his good changeup that kept hitters off balance for a majority of his outing but also didn’t miss too many bats with his fastball. That being said, if Oldalvi Javier was just a tad more effective coming out of the bullpen the Braves would have had a chance to escape without too much damage. Here’s a look at every strikeout that Jared had.

Sean McLaughlin had to come into relief for Javier, who lasted just one third of an inning, to help end the threat but the damage was done and Montgomery had a 6-0 lead. Mississippi would get a run back in the top half of the next inning when Trey Harris would single in Luke Waddell to make it 6-1, but Montgomery would respond with a run of their own again, this time off of Jake Higgingbotham to extend their lead to 7-1. Alan Rangel, a possible starter for the championship series thanks to a fantastic regular season, found himself coming out of the bullpen to finish out the game and did so by striking out two of the three hitters he faced.

Offensively, the Mississippi offense struggled mightily. They were absolutely mystified by Adrian De Horta who struck out seven over five innings of work – his season high. De Horta had not previously pitched more than four innings this season, and was just okay throughout the regular season so it was a bit of surprise he got the game one start but it worked out extremely well for the Biscuits. Luke Waddell was the only player in the top four of the lineup to get on base, and he did so twice, while also scoring the only run of the game. Wendell Rijo, who made a spectacular play at third, was the only player to have an extra-base. The Braves, who found their way to the top thanks to some spectacular pitching, found out that if the pitching isn’t quite there it’s hard for the team to win. They came into the series with one of the worst team batting averages in the league, and it showed as they collected just three hits and two walks throughout the game.

Of note, Shea Langeliers did have an absolutely fantastic play when he threw out Biscuits third baseman Xavier Edwards. Edwards, who possesses 70 grade speed, was thrown out by Shea after he caught a changeup from Jared Shuster – really showing how absurd he is behind the plate.

• Luke Waddell, 2B: 1-for-3, BB, R
• Braden Shewmake, SS: 0-for-4
• Shea Langeliers, C: 0-for-4
• Trey Harris, LF: 1-for-4, RBI
• Wendell Rijo, 3B: 1-for-3, 2B
• Jared Shuster, SP: 5.1 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 5 K

Box Score