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

Regions Field - Birmingham Barons

Biloxi Shuckers (MIL) @ Birmingham Barons (CHW)

June 12, 2026

Barons 3, Shuckers 2

W: Johnathan Clark
L: Travis Smith

HR: Anthony DePino (BIR)

Attendance: 4,080
Time of Game: 2 hours, 17 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Birmingham, AL
Opened: 2013
Capacity: 8,500
Level: Double A
League: Southern

After my short stay in Tennessee, I drove down to Birmingham, Alabama on a Friday afternoon.  Regions Field is the only minor league ballpark I visited this year that I had been to before.  In 2017, I visited Birmingham as part of a trip to see all of the White Sox minor league affiliates, plus the Braves new stadium in Atlanta.  On that trip, I just made a day trip to Birmingham from the Atlanta area.  So this was my first time actually staying a night in Birmingham, or anywhere else in Alabama for that matter.

When Regions Field opened in 2013, it was widely considered the crown jewel of the Southern League and one of the nicest parks in all of the minor leagues.  That's probably not the case any longer, but it is still a very nice facility.  It hadn't occurred to me the night before while in Chattanooga, but the architects for the new Chattanooga park probably got a few of their design ideas from Birmingham.  First of all, Regions Field also celebrates its city's industrial past with a brick and metal exterior.  Additionally, the asymmetrical design of the upper seating areas are somewhat similar to Chattanooga's, except the sides are reversed.  Here, the two levels of suites are on the first base side, while club seating, an indoor lounge and a party patio can be found behind home plate spanning out beyond third base.  Traditional reserved seating on the main level stretches from just beyond third base all the way out to the right field foul pole.  I could be wrong about this, but it seems to me they have expanded the perimeter of the ballpark in the outfield since the last time I was here.  It now runs almost all the way back to the apartment buildings that surround left field, well beyond the left field fence.  This creates a ton of open space throughout the outfield.  The Barons' batting cage is viewable from the concourse in right field.  There is a huge picnic area in left field with seating areas in the left field home run porch.  There are also bleacher seats available in right field.  Grass berm seating can be found in right-centerfield as well as down the third base line.  This downtown ballpark is surrounded by residential high rises in both left and right field.  Hovering over the park a couple blocks beyond centerfield is a huge children's hospital.  During the 7th inning stretch, fans are encouraged to turn their phone flashlights on and wave to kids in the hospital, similar to the tradition at Iowa Hawkeyes football games with the children's hospital overlooking their stadium.  Even though I was quite invested in this game featuring a White Sox affiliate, my attention was somewhat divided during the later stages of the game because the USA men's soccer team was playing their first game in this summer's World Cup this evening as well.  One small complaint from an otherwise very enjoyable experience:  the sound system was cranked up WAY too loud at the beginning of the game.  Fortunately, they eventually seemed to tune it down a bit.

A side note from this game before I get to the recap.  The PA announcer kept referring to the player formerly known as Alec Makarwicz, the Barons third baseman, as Alec Briley.  The scoreboard had him listed as Makarwicz and I had seen him play by that name a bunch of times before.  So I was very confused by this.  The following day, I did some research and discovered that Briley is his wife's last name.  Apparently, sometime that week, he made the decision to use his wife's last name, at least professionally.  I would imagine he grew tired of people butchering the pronunciation of his previous name.

When I last saw the Barons play a month earlier in Knoxville, they only recorded one hit, an infield single by the first batter of the game.  In the weeks that passed between these games, they received a couple reinforcements by way of promotion, notably including third/first baseman Anthony DePino.  Even with a little more impressive lineup, it still took them until the sixth inning of this game to surpass their hit total from Knoxville.  Jaron DeBerry got the start for Biloxi and mostly held the Barons offense in check.  The same could be said for Birmingham's starter, southpaw Lucas Gordon.  Both hurlers pitched into the sixth inning while only allowing a pair of hits.  As for hitters, this was my first time seeing the current consensus top prospect in baseball, Biloxi shortstop Jesus Made.  He didn't do anything particularly spectacular in this game, but did record a single and made a bunch of nice plays defensively.  Biloxi got the scoring started in the third inning.  Following a leadoff walk, Jacob Hurtubise lined one just inside the right field line for a RBI stand up triple.  Gordon was able to strand him on third though, keeping the Shuckers lead at 1-0.  It was the only run Gordon would allow.  The Barons finally got on the board against DeBerry in the sixth inning, immediately after the Shuckers stranded the bases loaded in the top of the sixth.  In the bottom half, a couple batters after DeBerry issued a walk, DePino absolutely crushed a 3-2 pitch to the concourse in left for a two run homer, which put Birmingham ahead 2-1.  That is how it would stay until the ninth inning.  Jonathan Clark came in to pitch for the Barons, looking to close the game out.  He wound up walking the first batter he faced, Mike Boeve, who was lifted for a pinch runner, Southern League stolen base leader Dylan O'Rea.  O'Rea would eventually steal second and advance to third on a wild pitch.  With two outs, Hurtubise came up with a clutch single to tie the game.  He knocked in both of the Shuckers runs on the evening.  Despite the deflating blown lead in the top of the ninth, the Birmingham fans didn't remain despondent very long.  Leading off the bottom of the ninth, DePino made Regions Park look very small again, crushing a Travis Smith hanging slider to nearly the same location on the left field concourse as before.  This walk off homer gave the Barons a 3-2 victory, and ended the White Sox affiliates winless season with me in the house.

What a fun evening this turned out to be!  The Barons got a walk-off win, the USMNT cruised to victory over Paraguay and the White Sox beat the Dodgers.  Not a bad Friday night for yours truly.  More fun was to be had in Alabama that weekend, as I drove down to the state capital, Montgomery, the following day.

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Next ballpark: DABOS Park in Montgomery, AL