JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A six-run eighth inning and a five-RBI night for Brewer Hicklen provided the spark in the Gwinnett Stripers’ 14-5 win over the Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp in front of 5,926 fans at VyStar Ballpark Thursday night.
With a 6-2 lead in hand, Gwinnett (34-32) sent 11 batters to the plate and scored six in the eighth off the Jacksonville (36-30) bullpen to put the game away. Ben Gamel walked, advanced to second on a groundout and scored on a Jim Jarvis RBI single. A walk to DaShawn Keirsey Jr. pushed Jarvis to second and set up a Brett Wisely RBI double. With two runners now in scoring position, Hicklen concluded his great day at the plate with a two-run double. RBI singles from José Azocar and Jair Camargo gave the Stripers a 12-2 lead at the inning’s end.
Jarvis (5) launched a two-run homer after Cal Conley led off the ninth inning with a double to give the Stripers a 14-2 lead.
With two-on and two down in the bottom of the ninth, Jared Serna (7) crushed his second homer of the game, and his third in the last two days, to set the final margin at 14-5.
Brandon White (L, 1-3) earned his third consecutive loss after conceding five runs in 4.1 innings with five walks and three strikeouts. It was a successful Triple-A debut for Garrett Baumann (W, 1-0), who struck out six and walked two while giving up just one run on three hits.
Gwinnett wasted no time and opened the scoring in the top of the first. With two outs, Wisely singled and scored on a Hicklen (11) two-run home run to put the Stripers ahead 2-0.
Back-to-back one-out homers from Keirsey Jr. (5) and Wisely (4) in the top of the third improved Gwinnett’s lead to 4-0.
Jacksonville cut the lead to three in the bottom of the third. Serna led off the frame with a walk and moved to second on a Matthew Etzel single. A groundout placed both runners in scoring position and set up Jacob Berry’s run scoring groundout to bring the Stripers lead down to 4-1.
Gwinnett added on in the away fifth thanks to aggressive baserunning. Keirsey Jr. began the inning with a single and proceeded to steal second and third base. Hicklen knocked him in with a base hit two batters later to give the Stripers a 5-1 advantage.
The Stripers took advantage of back-to-back walks to open the seventh by executing a double steal to set up a second and third situation for Aaron Schunk, who sent a sacrifice fly to left to bring in Keirsey Jr. and push the Gwinnett lead to 6-1.
Jacksonville earned a run back in the bottom of the seventh on a two-out solo shot from Serna to pull the Jumbo Shrimp closer, 6-2.
The series continues Friday at 7:05 p.m. with Jacksonville southpaw Patrick Monteverde (0-2, 5.52) scheduled to start on the mound opposite Gwinnett lefty Austin Gomber (1-2, 6.10).
Coverage begins at 6:50 p.m. on Bally Live, MLB.tv, MiLB.tv, ESPN 690 and espn690.com.
Gates open at 6 p.m. and fans can enjoy Friday Night Lites Happy Hour, presented by Miller Lite with $2 12-oz. Miller Lites and $1 off craft beer in the Craft Cave (runs from gates open – 7:30 p.m.), a DUVAL Calling (Punk Music) ballpark playlist and Postgame Drone Show. On a Red Shirt Friday, fans who wear red save $1 on their ticket at the Miller Electric Box Office.
ABOUT THE JUMBO SHRIMP: The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp are the Triple-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins and compete in the International League. The 2025 International League and Triple-A National Champions, the Jumbo Shrimp call VyStar Ballpark home for baseball but also a wide variety of additional community focused events with a goal of providing Affordable, Family, FUN to Northeast Florida. Winners of many marketing and sales awards and recognition since the team was rebranded prior to the 2017 season, the Jumbo Shrimp continually lead the state of Florida in attendance across all minor league professional sports organizations.