MADISON, AL – From the worst record in Minor League Baseball to the final team standing in the Southern League.
The Rocket City Trash Pandas completed a remarkable transformation Wednesday night, defeating the Biloxi Shuckers 3-1 at Toyota Field in the decisive third game of the Southern League Championship Series to win the club's first championship.
Austin Gordon struck out 10 over 6.1 innings, Arjun Nimmala delivered a crucial seventh-inning home run, and Kenyon Yovan recorded the final five outs before a raucous crowd of 2,912. When Yovan caught Braylon Payne looking for the final strike, Rocket City had finished its postseason run with a 4-1 record and brought an outright Southern League championship to the Huntsville area for the first time in 32 years.
One season after finishing 45-92, the Trash Pandas improved by 27 victories to go 72-65 during the regular season. Under first-year manager Joe Kruzel, they followed a North Division second-half title with their first playoff series victory, first North Division championship and, ultimately, their first Southern League crown.
The championship also ended an 18-year wait for the Angels organization, which had not celebrated a Double-A title since the Arkansas Travelers defeated Frisco in the 2008 Texas League Championship Series.
For North Alabama, the opponent added another layer of history. Biloxi's franchise played as the Huntsville Stars from 1985 through 2014 before relocating to South Mississippi. The Stars won the area's previous outright championship in 1994, defeating Carolina in four games, and shared the 2001 title with Jacksonville after the September 11 attacks canceled the finals.
On Wednesday, North Alabama's current team made championship history of its own.
Gordon provided the foundation, earning his second victory in as many postseason starts after also winning the North Division Series clincher at Knoxville. The right-hander matched his regular-season high with 10 strikeouts, allowing one run on six hits and one walk while throwing 66 of his 95 pitches for strikes.
He finished the postseason 2-0 with a 0.79 ERA, 14 strikeouts and two walks over 11.1 innings.
Biloxi tested him early. Josh Adamczewski doubled to open the second, and Matthew Wood's one-out single put runners at the corners. Gordon responded by retiring Eric Bitonti on a fly ball and striking out Mike Boeve to keep the game scoreless.
Rocket City's defense contributed another important out in the third. Payne doubled to left but was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple, with Tucker Flint starting the relay that cut him down at third.
The Trash Pandas broke through in the bottom half against Biloxi starter J.D. Thompson. Eddie Micheletti Jr. and Jake Thompson opened the inning with consecutive singles. After two outs, Nick Rodriguez lined an RBI single to left, scoring Micheletti for a 1-0 lead.
It was another timely hit from Rodriguez, whose ninth-inning RBI single had provided the winning run in Rocket City's 5-4 victory in Game 1. He finished Wednesday 3-for-4 and closed the postseason with a .381 average.
Gordon protected the advantage in the fourth, striking out Andrew Fischer and Adamczewski before a Damon Keith single and Wood walk created another scoring opportunity. Gordon escaped by striking out Bitonti, stranding two more runners.
Rocket City added a run in the bottom of the inning. Jacob Cozart singled, moved to second on Caleb Bartolero's groundout and scored on Flint's single through the middle for a 2-0 lead.
Micheletti followed with his second hit, but Biloxi's relay cut down Flint at the plate, preventing another run. Thompson departed after 3.2 innings, charged with two runs on six hits despite striking out five without issuing a walk.
Gordon then retired the Shuckers in order in both the fifth and sixth, collecting three more strikeouts during that stretch. His final strikeout came against Fischer, who had driven in seven runs over the first two games of the series.
Biloxi finally scored in the seventh. Keith led off with a single, and Gordon retired Wood on a line drive to center before handing the ball to Camden Minacci. Bitonti singled to put runners at the corners, and a balk brought Keith home to cut Rocket City's lead to 2-1.
Minacci limited the damage, retiring Boeve and Dylan O'Rae to strand the tying run at third.
Nimmala answered in the bottom half.
After Ryan Birchard retired the first two hitters, the Angels' top prospect drove a solo home run to left-center, restoring the two-run advantage. It was Nimmala's third homer of the postseason and September 10, providing breathing room that became especially valuable over the final two innings.
The Shuckers threatened again in the eighth. With one out, Jesús Made walked and Fischer singled to put runners at first and third. Kruzel turned to Yovan, who struck out Adamczewski and retired Keith on a fly ball to center, preserving the 3-1 lead.
The ninth brought one final test.
Wood opened with a single. Yovan struck out Bitonti, but Boeve's infield single put the potential tying run aboard and brought the top of Biloxi's order to the plate.
Yovan finished the job with consecutive strikeouts, getting O'Rae swinging before freezing Payne for the championship-clinching out.
The right-hander struck out four over 1.2 scoreless innings for his second postseason save. He and Minacci combined to record the final eight outs without allowing an earned run, while Rocket City's three pitchers totaled 15 strikeouts. Biloxi finished 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and stranded 10.
Both teams collected 10 hits. Rodriguez led Rocket City with three, while Micheletti added two hits and scored the game's first run. Flint, Rodriguez and Nimmala accounted for the Trash Pandas' three RBI.
The victory completed a postseason run that began with a two-game sweep of Knoxville, 9-2 and 13-3. Rocket City then rallied from a 4-2 deficit to win the championship opener in Biloxi before the Shuckers forced Game 3 with Tuesday's 7-0 victory before a club postseason-record crowd of 4,756.
One night after being shut out, the Trash Pandas delivered when there were no games left to spare.
Rocket City became the 24th different Southern League champion and the league's first new champion since 2017. The title came in the 18th Championship Series to go the distance since the league began in 1964.
A season that began with a turnaround to prove ended with a championship to celebrate — the first in Trash Pandas history.
ABOUT THE ROCKET CITY TRASH PANDAS
Owned and operated by BallCorps, LLC, the Rocket City Trash Pandas are the proud Double-A Affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels in the Southern League. The Trash Pandas play at state-of-the-art Toyota Field in Madison, Alabama. The organization's mission is to unite our communities by creating positive and lasting memories one experience at a time.