Biloxi Shuckers (MIL) @ Birmingham Barons (CHW)
June 12, 2026
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
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.
Next ballpark: DABOS Park in Montgomery, AL
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