This Day in Shuckers History: April 21
While we wait until we can bring you live baseball, let’s take a look back at this date in Biloxi Shuckers history. The Shuckers have played six games all-time on April 21 and have a 3–3 record.
The Shuckers played their first games serving as the “home” team on the road on this day in 2015, as they made up a rainout from the previous night with a doubleheader in Jacksonville. Right-hander Brooks Hall took the ball for Biloxi in Game 1 and delivered a performance for the ages, shutting out the Suns for six innings of one-hit ball and also hitting a home run off future major leaguer Trevor Williams in the second inning. The blast was the first by a pitcher in Shuckers history. Biloxi also benefited from clutch hitting, as Michael Reed, Nick Ramirez and Adam Weinsenburger all delivered two-out RBI hits. Tanner Poppe finished off the one-hit shutout with a perfect seventh inning as the Shuckers won the opener 6–0. Jacksonville took the nightcap 5–2 as the teams split the doubleheader.
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Strong pitching was again the name of the game one year later, as four Biloxi pitchers combined on a five-hit shutout in a 1–0 victory over Pensacola at MGM Park. Wei-Chung Wang started and threw five innings, while Tristan Archer, Jed Bradley and Stephen Kohlscheen finished off the gem. Tyrone Taylor brought home the only run of the game in the third inning with a two-out solo homer off Rookie Davis.
On this day in 2017, Biloxi fell to Chattanooga by a final score of 6–3 in the rubber match of a five-game series at AT&T Field. The game started off on a rather bizarre note, as Shuckers reliever Matt Ramsey and Lookouts reliever Mason Melotakis were both ejected before first pitch for their participation in a post-National Anthem standoff. Biloxi got off to a good start on a home run by Michael Reed in the first inning and then a pair of run-scoring hits by Angel Ortega and George Iskenderian in the second, but the Lookouts scored six unanswered runs for the victory.
Despite a three-run triple from Dylan Moore in the fourth inning, the Shuckers were defeated by the Montgomery Biscuits by a score of 5–3 in the series opener in Biloxi on April 21, 2018. Moore spent nearly the entire 2019 season in the major leagues, playing in 113 games for the Seattle Mariners.
Eventual Southern League Pitcher of the Year Trey Supak was in vintage form on this day last year, tossing seven innings of shutout ball with just four hits allowed as the Shuckers cruised to a 5–0 home win over the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. Biloxi plated four runs in the fourth inning, highlighted by Michael O’Neill’s first home run of the season, a three-run shot. Weston Wilson also had an RBI double in the frame, and Luis Aviles Jr. drove home another run in the eighth inning for good measure.
