Dillon Lewis sent one last encouraging sign into the night before Pensacola turns its attention to the playoffs. His drive carried high and deep toward left-center, clearing the wall in his final at-bat of the regular season and bringing the Blue Wahoos back into a game that had nearly slipped away.
Lewis’ 18th home run, and his first since June, broke up a shutout in the eighth inning. Pensacola put the tying and winning runs aboard with nobody out in the ninth but could not finish the comeback, falling 2-1 to the Biloxi Shuckers on Sunday at Blue Wahoos Stadium.
The loss closed the regular season, but Lewis’ swing offered a timely lift after his return from a broken hamate bone. He finished 2-for-4 with the homer, an RBI and a run scored, supplying Pensacola’s only run and one of its eight hits.
His other hit came during the Blue Wahoos’ best early opportunity. After Colby Shade flew out, Cristian Hernández singled in the sixth against reliever Peyton Niksch, and Max Williams walked before Lewis lined a single to center to load the bases with one out. Niksch escaped by getting Connor Caskenette on an infield fly and Ethan O’Donnell on a groundout, preserving Biloxi’s 2-0 lead.
It was the kind of afternoon that kept offering Pensacola a foothold without yielding the decisive hit. The Blue Wahoos had a runner aboard in five of the first six innings, but Biloxi starter Manuel Rodriguez held them scoreless across five innings. He struck out five, did not issue a walk and stranded Jay Beshears after his two-out single in the fifth.
Biloxi built its margin with two sacrifice flies, each following a leadoff single by the bottom of its order.
Mike Boeve opened the third with a line-drive single to center, and Darrien Miller followed with another hit. Jacob Miller struck out Dylan O’Rae before walking Braylon Payne to load the bases, prompting Pensacola to turn to Alex Williams. Jesús Made lifted a soft fly into right-center, where O’Donnell made the catch as Boeve tagged and scored the game’s first run.
Jacob Miller took the loss after allowing one run in 2 1/3 innings. He struck out two and walked one. Williams kept the deficit there with 1 2/3 scoreless innings, striking out two without a walk.
The Shuckers manufactured their second run against Josh Hejka in the fifth. Darrien Miller singled to center, moved to third on O’Rae’s sacrifice bunt and scored when Payne sent a fly ball to center. Lewis settled under it shy of the warning track, but it was deep enough to give Biloxi the run that ultimately decided the game.
Hejka limited the damage from there, allowing one run over four innings with two strikeouts and one walk. Juan Reynoso worked around a ninth-inning error by striking out Darrien Miller and Payne in a scoreless frame.
Pensacola finally broke through with two outs in the eighth. After Niksch retired Hernández and Max Williams, Lewis drove the ball over the wall in left-center to cut the deficit in half.
The Blue Wahoos made one final push against Garrett Hodges. O’Donnell was hit by a pitch to open the ninth, and Payton Green dropped a soft bunt for a single, putting two aboard with nobody out. But Beshears’ bunt popped softly back to Hodges, Ian Lewis Jr. flew out to left and Colby Shade popped out to second.
Biloxi finished with nine hits to Pensacola’s eight. Hernández joined Lewis with a two-hit game, going 2-for-4, but the Blue Wahoos were left with a narrow loss—and one long swing to carry into the postseason.