playoff fever

The Biloxi Shuckers have Pensacola’s Blue Wahoos right where they want them. The Southern League playoff format gives the Shuckers home field for the first two games of the best-of-5 South Division series, meaning the Shuckers can only clinch the series on the road. Remember, this is a team that played its first 54 games on foreign ground and still won the first-half championship handily. They even clinched the title on the road, at Trustmark Park in Pearl. A league championship would be frosting on what already has been a remarkable inaugural year for the Shuckers, a Milwaukee affiliate that moved from Huntsville. Jorge Lopez (12-5, 2.26 ERA), the SL pitcher of the year, will start tonight’s opener for Biloxi at MGM Park. In Game 2 on Friday, Cody Reed, the Northwest Mississippi Community College alum, will start for Pensacola (Cincinnati affiliate). Reed went 6-2 with a 2.17 ERA in eight starts for the Blue Wahoos and is the reigning SL pitcher of the week. In two starts from Aug. 31-Sept. 7, he was 2-0 with 14 shutout innings and 17 strikeouts. P.S. In the Pacific Coast League playoffs on Wednesday night, ex-Ole Miss star Alex Presley went 4-for-5 with an RBI and a run to pace Fresno (Houston) past El Paso 9-1. Mississippi State product Hunter Renfroe was hitless in four trips for El Paso (San Diego). … Former State standout Adam Frazier was 1-for-4 with a run as Altoona (Pittsburgh) beat Bowie 8-7 in the Eastern League playoffs. Frazier was second in the EL in hitting this year with a .324 average. … In the Midwest League playoffs: Ex-Madison Central star Spencer Turnbull (11-3, 3.01 during the regular season) worked six strong innings (two runs, seven K’s) as West Michigan (Detroit) topped Fort Wayne 5-2. Southwest Mississippi CC alum Kade Scivicque was behind the plate for West Michigan and went 0-for-4. The Bray brothers from Vancleave (see previous post) were on opposing sides again as Peoria (St. Louis) defeated Kane County (Arizona) 2-1. Colin went 0-for-4 for KC; Tyler did not pitch for Peoria. And Stone County High alum D.J. Davis put up a 1-for-5 with a run scored for Lansing (Toronto) in a 6-5 victory over Great Lakes. Davis, a first-round pick by the Blue Jays in 2012, hit .282 with seven homers, 59 RBIs, 77 runs and 21 steals.