HUNTSVILLE (GG) — The Biloxi Shuckers (1-0) used a multi-home run performance from Blake Burke and five strikeouts from Mark Manfredi Sr. in a 7-6, extra-innings win, on Opening Day against the Rocket City Trash Pandas. Burke’s multi-home run performance was a franchise record for an Opening Day game and marked the first in the Southern League since 2014, when Jaime Pedroza achieved the feat with the Birmingham Barons.
Burke joins Pedroza (‘14 at MTG) and 1B Paul Goldschmidt (‘11 at CAR) as the only 3 Southern League players to achieve the feat in the Digital Stats Era (since 2005). Burke has 13 home runs in 38 Southern League games, an average of one every 11.15 at-bats. It marks the 4th-best mark in the Southern League (min. 140 AB) in the Digital Stats Era (since 2005).
The Shuckers fell behind in the first when Tucker Flint lined a two-RBI double to left-center, making it 2-0. In the second, Jordyn Adams made it 2-1 with an RBI groundout to short, and Blake Burke tied the game in the fourth with a solo home run to left. Mike Boeve followed later in the inning with a 380-foot two-run blast down the right field line, making it 4-2. Burke then made it 5-2 in the fifth with his second home run of the night, a 108 MPH, 422-foot blast to right-center. In the eighth, a passed ball brought home Jacob Hurtubise, making it 6-2. The Trash Pandas tied the game in the eighth with four runs off a two-run double from Tucker Flint, an RBI single from Ben Gobbel and a double play from J.J. D’Orazio that brought home Flint. The Shuckers took their final lead of the night in the 10th when a safety squeeze from Eric Brown Jr. scored Jacob Hurtubise from third…