Braylon Payne sent one ball beyond the wall in center field, another over right-center and the Biloxi Shuckers into the postseason with the kind of offensive performance that leaves little room for suspense.
Payne homered twice and drove in four runs Saturday night as Biloxi overwhelmed the Pensacola Blue Wahoos 19-1 at Blue Wahoos Stadium, tying the franchise record for runs in a game.
The center fielder finished 3-for-6 with two runs scored, but his first hit supplied the swing that changed the shape of the night. Biloxi led 2-0 in the fourth when Mike Boeve and Dylan O’Rae drew walks around a pitching change. Payne drove Justin Storm’s offering deep toward center, beyond the retreating outfielders and onto the deck for a three-run homer.
A competitive game had become a 5-0 lead. It would not stay that close for long.
Payne said the performance carried meaning beyond his own line.
“Oh, yeah, man, it felt great. I mean, getting the boys back on top, playing the game hard and winning, you know?”
— Braylon Payne, Biloxi Shuckers Center Fielder
Biloxi had started applying pressure immediately. O’Rae and Andrew Fischer walked in the first, and Damon Keith dropped a fly ball into shallow right to bring home O’Rae. Eric Bitonti’s sacrifice fly scored Fischer for a 2-0 advantage.
Those two runs were enough for Josh Knoth, who worked five scoreless innings to earn the win. The right-hander struck out seven and walked three, navigating two hits and a walk in the third before escaping without a run. Pensacola managed another double against him in the fourth, but Knoth again shut the door.
The Shuckers kept widening it. They scored three runs in the fifth, then broke away with five in the sixth.
Payne opened that inning by greeting Mason Vinyard’s first pitch with a drive to right-center. Colby Shade could only watch it leave, giving Payne his second homer and Biloxi a 9-0 lead. Fischer and Keith followed with singles before Matthew Wood lined a two-run double into left field. Daniel Dickinson and Mark Coley II added RBI doubles as the margin reached 13-0.
Wood reached base five times despite recording only one hit, finishing with four walks and two RBIs. Keith went 3-for-5 with a walk, while Dickinson had two hits, a walk and a hit-by-pitch.
The abundance of traffic reflected a problem Pensacola never solved. Starter Emmett Olson walked seven in 3 1/3 innings, and Biloxi drew 12 walks overall.
Manager Mike Guerrero had framed the extended stretch against Pensacola — including an upcoming playoff meeting — around which club could respond fastest to what it had learned.
“You have to learn how to make adjustments. They have to learn how to make adjustments. The guys that will take advantage of making the adjustment the quicker, they will actually come out, you know, with better results.”
— Mike Guerrero, Biloxi Shuckers Manager
By Friday, Biloxi’s adjustments had become emphatic. Travis Smith struck out two in a perfect sixth, and Ryan Birchard struck out all three batters he faced in the seventh.
Already ahead by 13, the Shuckers packed six more runs into the ninth. Fischer drove his 28th homer to right-center, Dickinson delivered a two-run single and Boeve doubled home another run. Coley completed the surge by launching a two-run homer toward left-center, bringing Biloxi to its record-tying total.
Pensacola avoided the shutout when Dylan Jasso doubled home Shade in the bottom of the ninth. It did little to alter a night on which the Shuckers collected 15 hits, launched four home runs and played error-free baseball.
Payne viewed the rout as more than one runaway regular-season win. With the same opponent waiting in the playoffs, he delivered a direct forecast.
“I think we’re going to win it all. We have the pitching, we have the hitters to do it. If we stick together, we’re going to win it all.”
— Braylon Payne, Biloxi Shuckers Center Fielder