The Brewers’ minor league season is winding down, but Biloxi is still playing meaningful baseball, and the Shuckers have given themselves a chance to make history. After sweeping Pensacola in the Southern League Championship Series opener, they now need two more wins to capture the first title in franchise history.
That sweep started with a 6-3 win in Game 1 and ended with an 8-3 rout in the clincher. In the opener, Pensacola starter Jacob Kisting, a Madison, Wisconsin, native, no-hit Biloxi through four innings while carrying a 10-0 record and 1.72 ERA into the night.
But the game flipped in the fifth when Kisting opened the inning with two fastballs that were much slower than his usual velocity. Damon Keith jumped on the second one for a solo homer, and Kisting was immediately pulled after clearly being in pain.
Biloxi then piled on five runs against Nigel Belgrave to take control.
Game 2 turned into a power display. Biloxi jumped ahead 6-0 early behind three two-run homers from Jesús Made, Matthew Wood, and Braylon Payne.
Payne’s blast was the loudest of the bunch, a 117 mph rocket that left the park while he was still in the batter’s box. It was the hardest-hit ball by a Shucker this season, and not exactly a surprise from Payne, whose 28 homers trail only Andrew Fischer and Blake Burke.
The Shuckers then dropped Game 1 of the Southern League Championship Series to the Rocket City Trash Pandas, 5-4, even with home runs from Josh Adamczewski and Andrew Fischer. Fischer’s homer went to the opposite field and gave Biloxi a 4-2 lead. Starter Josh Knoth worked six strong innings, but the bullpen couldn’t finish the job.
Even with that setback, Biloxi has gotten a boost from the way its rotation has settled in. Bishop Letson, J.D.
Thompson, and Knoth each went at least five innings this week and allowed no more than two runs. All three have had their share of ups and downs this season, but they’ve looked better as the year has gone on, and their playoff work only adds to the optimism around their development.
The regular season also brought a major individual honor for Blake Burke, who was named Southern League MVP despite having been in Nashville since August 10. Burke became the first player to hit 30 home runs in the Southern League since 2015, and his 91 RBIs broke the Shuckers’ single-season record of 90 set by Jackson Chourio in 2023. In 375 at-bats with Biloxi, he hit .285/.367/.603 with a .970 OPS.
On the field this week, the Shuckers’ top bats kept rolling. Matthew Wood went 5-for-10 with two doubles, a homer, six RBIs, and three walks.
Dylan O’Rae reached five hits in 12 at-bats. Damon Keith added a double and a homer, Andrew Fischer homered again, and Jesús Made also went deep.
The offense had plenty of help, but the pitching backbone mattered just as much.
While Biloxi is chasing a championship, Nashville’s season ended with a quieter note. The Sounds dropped four of six to the Memphis Redbirds to close things out, wrapping up what was mostly a successful year.
Jonathan Ornelas was the headliner for Nashville, going 7-for-20 with a double, two home runs, six RBIs, and two walks. Those were his first two homers as a Sound, and they pushed his Nashville line to .213/.327/.362 in 47 at-bats. Ornelas had already gotten a brief look with the Brewers earlier in the summer because of injuries.
Brandon Lockridge kept making a case for himself as a useful depth piece. After another 5-for-18 week, he’s batting .253 with a .701 OPS in the minors. He held his own in Milwaukee as well, hitting .273 with a .658 OPS, and while he isn’t pushing Luis Lara or Sal Frelick aside, there’s at least a path to him ending up on the postseason bench as a pinch-runner and late-game defender.
Akil Baddoo, Tyler Black, and Eduardo Garcia also had solid weeks for Nashville. None of them look like part of the Brewers’ long-term plans, but each has handled Triple-A well enough this season. Black, in particular, has put together a .755 OPS in 354 at-bats and looks like a candidate to wind up elsewhere this winter.
On the mound, Coleman Crow was hit hard in terms of traffic but kept the damage down, giving up 12 hits and only two runs over 9 2/3 innings. Tate Kuehner kept his strong run going after returning from the injured list last month, allowing no more than three runs in any of his six outings and one or fewer earned runs in four of them. Bryse Wilson was even sharper, firing 6 1/3 shutout innings with seven strikeouts on his rehab assignment.
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