Keesler Federal Park - Biloxi Shuckers

Columbus Clingstones (ATL) @ Biloxi Shuckers (MIL)

June 17, 2026

Clingstones 9, Shuckers 4

W: Shay Schanaman
L: Tanner Gillis

HR: Kevin Kilpatrick (COL), David McCabe (COL), Archer Brookman (COL), Andrew Fischer (BLX)

Attendance: 2,608
Time of Game: 2 hours, 57 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Biloxi, MS
Opened: 2015
Capacity: 6,098
Level: Double A
League: Southern

The final week of my trip started with me reaching the furthest point from home of the voyage in Biloxi, Mississippi.  What was supposed to be one day without baseball in Biloxi became two as the Tuesday night game got rained out.  This was part of a very wet stretch of weather I encountered while on the Gulf Coast.  I did not wind up seeing the sun much at all during what turned into three days in Biloxi.  I had predetermined that Biloxi and Pensacola would be the two stops on this trip that I was committed to stay until I was able to see a game since neither would have been particularly easy to return to in the future.  This was my first time ever in the state of Mississippi, now allowing me to make the claim that I have been to every state east of the Mississippi River.  Biloxi is a pretty interesting place.  It is a resort and casino city right on the recently renamed Gulf of America.  Several casinos line the highway that runs right along the ocean shore.  These casinos appear to be the driving force of the local economy.  While I didn't do much gambling, it worked out nicely to have indoor entertainment options on these rainy days.

Keesler Federal Park is situated in the shadows of what is probably the most visually impressive of the Biloxi casinos, the Beau Rivage Resort and Casino, which provides a unique and scenic skyline view when looking out beyond the outfield wall in right-center.  Once inside the park, I became thankful that they didn't try to play the game the night before because there would have been hardly anywhere to go to avoid the rain within the ballpark's perimeter.  There is an open air concourse above the main seating bowl with only the very back of the concourse where the concessions and vendors are located that has cover from the suite level above.  I found this to be a curious design choice for a ballpark in a region that I have come to assume is prone to precipitation in the summer months.  Virtually all of the seats are on the field level in foul territory, with standard seating stretching most of the way from pole to pole, except for a terrace section down the left field line.  There are no fixed seats in the outfield.  However, right field features a kids splash zone and a tiki bar surrounded with sand and beach chairs, clearing going for an ocean beach feel out there.  The only seats that aren't on the lower level are attached to the suites above the concourse, bookended by party decks on each side.  This is a bit of a no frills ballpark, as the modestly sized video board in right field provided the only signage in the entire park that contained game status information, as far as I could tell.  With this ballpark situated just a block from the ocean, it was unsurprising, yet quite attention grabbing to see tons of seagulls flocking around the playing field the first few innings.  They seemed to migrate elsewhere as the night progressed though.  The wind was blowing pretty stiffly off the ocean, in from right field on this night.

After having seen all of the Southern League teams in action the previous week, this second week of Southern League games meant I was seeing both teams for the second time on this trip.  In the case of Columbus, this was the second straight game of theirs that I witnessed.  They were far more impressive in this game than the one at home a few days earlier.  Meanwhile, Biloxi had a few new faces added to the roster just in time for this game.  Outfielder Josh Adamczewski and third baseman Andrew Fischer, who are both among the top handful of prospects in the Brewers deep system, made their AA debuts on this night.  Both made positive contributions for the Shuckers in this game too, but they didn't get a lot out of the rest of the lineup.  Right handed pitcher Tanner Gillis got the start for Biloxi and southpaw Herick Hernandez got the nod for Columbus.  Both had fairly pedestrian evenings.  Fischer announced his presence quickly leading off the bottom of the second.  He lined the third pitch he saw well past the wall in right field, against the wind, for a home run in his first AA plate appearance.  That gave the Shuckers an early 1-0 lead.  It was erased in the top of the third though.  With one out, nine hole hitter Kevin Kilpatrick lined one into the left-centerfield gap for a double, starting a big night for him.  A few batters later, David McCabe lined one to right for a single, causing seagulls to scurry and allowing Kilpatrick to score to tie the game.  It was the first of three run scoring hits for McCabe on the evening.  The Clingstones really started to get to Gillis in the fifth.  Kilpatrick crushed a solo home run to left to put Columbus ahead.  He would finish the night 4-for-4 with three runs scored and just a triple shy of the cycle.  Three batters later, McCabe crushed a two strike offering the opposite way for a two run homer, his 16th long ball of the year, which led the Southern League at that point.  It also gave him homers in both games I saw him play on this trip.  That put the Clingstones on top 4-1 and ended Gillis' evening.  Hernandez wouldn't survive the fifth either.  In the bottom half, he walked the bottom two hitters in the Shuckers lineup.  Then Adamczewski picked up his first AA hit and RBI with a double off the wall in left-center that scored one.  After a pitching change, consensus #1 prospect Jesus Made turned around to hit left handed for the first time in this game and grounded out to first base, scoring another run to cut the Clingstones lead to one.  Two more walks followed that, but the Shuckers left the bases loaded and the Clingstones clung to their lead through five.  The sixth started with a scary play in which Made and Adamczewski collided on a shallow fly ball to left, which was ruled an error on Made.  Both players remained in the game for the time being, but Made was replaced an inning later.  He returned to the Biloxi lineup a couple days later.  That play led to Columbus scoring an unearned run on a sac fly.  The Clingstones added two more in the seventh on a pair of RBI doubles, by Patrick Clohisy and McCabe.  McCabe wound up with three hits and four RBIs on the evening.  This put Columbus ahead 7-3.  Both teams scored single runs in the eighth.  In the ninth, Columbus catcher Archer Brookman ended the scoring by hitting a towering home run to left to make it 9-4.  The Clingstones scored in each of the final five innings to win this game by five.  This was the final week of the Southern League's first half.  With the loss, Biloxi's South Division lead over Pensacola was cut to 1/2 game over Pensacola.  They would go on to win the division first half crown though, with the game I would see the next night in Pensacola figuring prominently in that title race.

I wound up spending one more day in Biloxi than I had planned, but I can think of worse places to spend extra time.  It was a nice start to the homestretch of this trip, leading into a very eventful Thursday a couple hours east in Pensacola.

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Next ballpark: Blue Wahoos Stadium in Pensacola, FL

Synovus Park - Columbus Clingstones

Pensacola Blue Wahoos (MIA) @ Columbus Clingstones (ATL)

June 14, 2026

Blue Wahoos 8, Clingstones 4

W: Luis Moreno
L: Ian Mejia

HR: Juan Matheus (PNS), Jay Beshears (PNS), Garret Forrester (PNS), Dillon Lewis (PNS), David McCabe (COL)

Attendance: 1,911
Time of Game: 2 hours, 45 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Columbus, GA
Opened: 1926
Capacity: 5,500
Level: Double A
League: Southern

I stayed in Montgomery both nights of the middle weekend of my trip.  However, on Sunday, I made a day trip back east to Columbus, Georgia.  This was only about an 80 mile drive, but did involve not only crossing a state line, but also a time zone line.  Just barely.  Synovus Park is located way down yonder on the Chattahoochee River, just about a stone's throw from this river that separates Georgia and Alabama.  It is on a sports compound that also houses an indoor arena and ample parking lots.

Synovus Park is technically one of the oldest active ballparks in minor league baseball.  However, that is a bit misleading because the stadium formerly known as Golden Park underwent major renovations prior to the Mississippi Braves relocating to Columbus and becoming the Clingstones for the 2025 season.  It was previously a home for other minor league franchises and hosted the 1996 Olympic softball tournament.  For the most part, it looks like a very modern park now.  Except for the fact that the main concourse is located underneath the grandstand, a design choice most modern parks avoid.  Virtually all of the seats in this park are in that main grandstand that runs just past first and third bases on each side.  There is a walkway that bisects this grandstand and is where the tunnels from the concourse lead to.  In a bit of a rarity for the AA level, this ballpark has no outfield seating areas at all.  There are large picnic areas down both foul lines though.  At the top of the grandstand behind first base is a large club seating area.  And above most of the rest of the grandstand are suites and the press box.  A roof overhangs most of the seats, which kept a majority of the seats in the shade on this hot summer afternoon.  There was also a bit of a breeze that made the conditions pretty tolerable, in my opinion.  It was a pretty small crowd on this particular afternoon though.  Very much understandable to me why not many people would make plans to attend summer afternoon games in this part of the country.  While I'm sure that Synovus Park is a nice upgrade over the facility in Pearl, Mississippi from which this franchise came, it does not stack up all that favorably compared to most of the other current Southern League ballparks.  That's not a terrible insult though considering how nice most of the parks in that league are.  Columbus' close proximity to the big league club in Atlanta no doubt played a major role in the relocation as well.  This game concluded a four day stretch in which I got to see all eight of the Southern League teams in action.

This Sunday afternoon game wrapped up a six game series between the AA affiliates of NL East rivals Miami and Atlanta.  The Marlins affiliate from Pensacola won three of the first five games.  Starting this game on the mound were a pair of righties:  Ian Mejia for the Clingstones and Luis Moreno for the Blue Wahoos.  Moreno's outing got off to a bit of a tough start as he gave up a solo home run to David McCabe to right-center in the bottom of the first, giving Columbus an early lead.  Moreno settled down nicely after that though, not allowing another run until the fifth.  By that time, he had a comfortable lead to work with because the Blue Wahoos offense came to life in the second inning.  Cristian Hernandez reached on a hit by pitch and then started an aggressive inning on the base paths for Pensacola as he stole second and third for two of the four stolen bases in the inning.  Ian Lewis walked and promptly stole second as catcher Archer Brookman's throw trickled into the outfield allowing Hernandez to score to tie the game.  Cam Cannarella would later line a base hit to right to score another run, giving Pensacola a 2-1 lead.  The inning ended with Cannarella attempting to pick up the fifth stolen base of the inning, but Brookman threw him out.  After that inning, the Wahoos converted from small ball to a long ball team.  In the third, Juan Matheus crushed a two run homer to right center to put Pensacola up by three.  Mejia then walked two more hitters, ending his rough afternoon with four runs allowed on four hits and four walks in less than three innings of work.  The bottom of the third started with Cannarella making a leaping catch while banging into the wall in right center, potentially robbing a home run from Kevin Kilpatrick.  Cannarella would later leave the game after his next at bat.  Not sure if he was feeling the effects from that wall bang or if it was something else.  Fortunately, he was back in the lineup for the next Blue Wahoos game.  In the fourth, Pensacola nine hole hitter Jay Beshears lined a homer to left to add to the lead.  The Clingstones got one back in the fifth against Moreno, but he finished with five solid innings, giving up a pair of runs with no walks and five strikeouts.  Columbus cut the lead to two with another run in the seventh.  But in the eighth, Pensacola continued their power surge as Garret Forrester crushed a ball off the scoreboard in left to make it a 6-3 game.  That was immediately followed by an incredible diving catch by Columbus centerfielder Patrick Clohisy.  The Clingstones scratched out a run of their own in the bottom of the eighth, cutting the lead to two heading into the final inning.  Pensacola effectively put the game out of reach in the ninth when Dillon Lewis crushed a two run homer to center.  It was the fourth Wahoos homer of the game and second by a player the Marlins acquired from the Yankees in the Ryan Weathers trade last winter (Matheus the other).  Columbus went down in order in the bottom of the ninth, closing out an 8-4 Pensacola victory.

After a brief stint in the Eastern time zone, it was back to Montgomery for another night before heading down to Biloxi on Monday and finally a day off from baseball after seven games in six straight days.  The weather didn't quite cooperate as nicely in the final week of my trip though.

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Next ballpark: Keesler Federal Park in Biloxi, MS

DABOS Park - Montgomery Biscuits

Knoxville Smokies (CHC) @ Montgomery Biscuits (TB)

June 13, 2026

Smokies 12, Biscuits 5

W: Frankie Scalzo Jr.
L: Santiago Suarez

HR: Jefferson Rojas (KNX), Will Simpson (MTG)

Attendance: 2,061
Time of Game: 3 hours, 13 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Montgomery, AL
Opened: 2004
Capacity: 7,000
Level: Double A
League: Southern

On Saturday morning, I hit the road to make the short drive south from Birmingham to Montgomery.  Traffic was surprisingly heavy for this drive, which I have chalked up as being caused by people driving down to the Gulf Shore beaches for the weekend.  Early that afternoon, I experienced my first of several instances on this trip where a thunderstorm seemingly came out of nowhere to dump a lot of rain in a short period of time.  Fortunately, it cleared well before it was time to head to the ballpark.

DABOS Park, as it was just renamed this past winter, sits in the heart of historic downtown Montgomery, next to Riverwalk Park on the Alabama River.  Prior to this year, the ballpark was actually named Riverwalk Stadium.  With this being my third straight evening at a Southern League ballpark, and the fourth of the year, I started to realize that the Southern League is really the epicenter of uniquely designed ballparks.  It is not particularly obvious you are walking towards a baseball stadium as you approach DABOS Park.  It is built into an old train shed on the first base side and a large brick sided building on the third base side.  The concourse on the first base side runs within the perimeter of that train shed, with arched entrances out to the seating areas.  Also within this building is an indoor bar area and several concession stands.  The suites on that side feature large decks sticking out of the building, hovering over the walkway below.  The third base side is much more of a traditional ballpark design with suites and a party deck on the second level above a concourse which is situated at the top of the main seating area.  There is a walkway around the entire outfield.  However, there are no fixed seats anywhere out there.  On this particular evening, there didn't seem to be a lot of activity anywhere in the outfield, other than a mini train giving kids rides around the park.  Speaking of trains, there are active tracks just beyond the left field perimeter of the park.  I saw several freight trains pass by over the course of the evening.  This is another minor league team that seems to make a killing off of merchandise, with their very unique and cartoonish biscuit logo.  The team store was a hub of activity pre-game.  Yes, of course I had a biscuit sandwich at the game.  There were plenty of options.  I went the chicken biscuit route.  There was not a particularly large crowd at this game for it being a relatively nice Saturday evening.  However, it did become a rather rowdy crowd toward the later innings, even as the game got a little out of hand for the home team.

This mid-June Southern League contest featured a pair of teams in the thick of the first half division championship races, Knoxville in the North Division and Montgomery in the South.  It was a pretty compelling starting pitching matchup with Tyler Schlaffer on the mound for Knoxville and Santiago Suarez for Montgomery.  I saw Schlaffer throw five innings of scoreless one-hit ball in Knoxville a month earlier.  He was not nearly as effective on this night, but was also a victim of some bad luck.  He walked the leadoff batter in the bottom of the second, and then induced a groundball that could have been a double play, but instead hit the umpire for a dead ball single.  The next four hitters all reached safely as well, including RBI singles by Kenny Piper, Kamren James and Mac Horvath.  The Biscuits eventually left the bases loaded, but scored three times to take a 3-0 lead.  It all fell apart for Suarez and Montgomery in the top of the third though.  The first two batters of the inning hit hard grounders near shortstop Jadher Areinamo that he was unable to corral, and both were scored as singles.  Knoxville third baseman Jefferson Rojas then crushed a three run homer to left-center to tie the game.  I also saw Rojas homer a level lower in South Bend last summer.  That was immediately followed with a double by Owen Ayers and then a walk.  Later in the inning, Alex Ramirez lined a double to right to score a run which gave the Smokies the lead.  Eventually, two more runs would score and Knoxville wound up putting up a six spot to take a 6-3 lead.  Then the scoring completely stopped until the eighth inning when Knoxville tacked on another in the top half.  In the bottom of the eighth, the Biscuits attempted to make one last charge.  Will Simpson hit a home run to dead center to tally the first Montgomery run since the second inning.  They would add an unearned run later in the frame to cut the Knoxville lead to two heading into the ninth.  That's when the wheels completely fell off for the Biscuits.  Montgomery reliever Jackson Lancaster faced seven batters and all of them reached base safely.  The only out recorded on his ledger was a caught stealing.  The first run of the inning was scored on a no out double by Andy Garriola that effectively put this one out of reach.  Four more hits and a walk eventually led to a six run inning for the Smokies.  That put them ahead by a 12-5 score, which was the final.  Knoxville joined Greenville as the only teams I saw play multiple times this year without a loss.

It was a leisurely paced 3 hour, 13 minute game.  I had nowhere better to be that evening though, so no complaints from me.  This was the first of a two night stay in Montgomery for me.  On Sunday, I made a day trip to Western Georgia for another Southern League game in Columbus.

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Next ballpark: Synovus Park in Columbus, GA