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Monday was the final day of the minor league regular season and Gwinnett, Mississippi, and Rome all closed out the season in the win column on the last day. Florida, Danville, the GCL, and the DSL had already wrapped up earlier.
The 2017 minor league season comes to a close with no teams making the playoffs, but we got to witness some breakout performances this year. There will be plenty more to come on that soon.
Gwinnett Braves 3, Durham Bulls 0
- Ronald Acuña, CF: 2-4, 2B, HR, 3 RBI
- Dustin Peterson, LF: 1-3
- Manny Barreda, SP: 7 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 7 K
The final game in Gwinnett Braves history was a combined shutout led by Manny Barreda. I say the final game in their history as the team is set to change it’s name to a yet to be determined name for 2018. Barreda gave up two hits and three walks while striking out seven over his seven innings of work. Danny Reynolds and Rhiner Cruz each pitched a scoreless inning in relief.
Ronald Acuña had a big game where he went two for four with a double, homer, and three RBI- and that big 399 foot homer can be seen below. He finished his time in Triple A this year with a .344 batting average. Dustin Peterson and Sean Kazmar each singled, and those were actually the only two other non-Acuña hits in the game.
We've got an early 3-0 lead after Ronald Acuña belted out this 3-run bomb in the bottom of the third inning! pic.twitter.com/vXmBlpbESm
— Gwinnett Braves (@GwinnettBraves) September 4, 2017
Mississippi Braves 8, Birmingham Barons 3
- Jared James, LF: 3-5, 2 R, 2 2B
- Austin Riley, 3B: 2-3, R, 3 RBI, 2B, SB
- Touki Toussaint, SP: 7 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 8 K
This one didn’t start out great as Touki Toussaint struggled out of the gate, giving up three first inning runs. Then something happened and Touki didn’t give up a run over the next six innings, as he allowed just two hits and no walks in that time. Touki moved his Double A ERA to a solid 3.18 with this outing. Mauricio Cabrera pitched a scoreless eighth, and while Devan Watts loaded up the bases in the ninth as he recorded two outs we got to see Corbin Clouse come in to record his first Mississippi save.
Two guys led the offense as Jared James had three hits, including a pair of doubles in the win. Austin Riley singled, doubled, stole a base, and picked up three RBI while moving his Mississippi average to .315. Jonathan Morales had a two hit afternoon, while Travis Demeritte hit his sixth triple of the year.
Rome Braves 4, Columbia Fireflies 2
- Isranel Wilson, CF: 1-2, 2 BB, 3 R
- Jordan Rodgers, SS: 3-4, RBI
- Bryse Wilson, SP: 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 K
The Rome Braves got three great innings out of Bryse Wilson, where the only base runner he allowed was a walk while striking out six. Wilson was making a short start due to his innings total in his first full season, but couldn’t have asked for a better end to his season. Ryan Schlosser and Jon Kennedy each went two scorelss out of the pen, before Thomas Burrows allowed a pair of runs in during the eighth.
Jordan Rodgers finished with a three for four game to lead the offense, raising his average back up to .257. With a hit and two walks plus three runs today, Izzy Wilson capped a great three game stretch to end his year where he went 5-11, three walks, seven runs scored, four RBI, plus a triple and a homer. Lucas Herbert added an RBI single to get up to 50 RBI on the year, while Kurt Hoekstra hit his 18th double.