Biscuits win Friday's extra inning affair but finish second in first-half league standings

By TIM GAYLE

The Montgomery Biscuits scored two runs in the 10th inning and held off Pensacola in the bottom half of the inning to win 3-2 on Friday and clinch second place in the Southern League’s South Division.

The Biloxi Shuckers (41-26) clinched the first-half title earlier in the week. Montgomery (37-30) entered the week with a mathematical chance but were left battling the Blue Wahoos for second place after the streaking Shuckers clinched the race on Wednesday.

Montgomery, the defending South Division champions, led for the first two games of the season before falling out of first for the majority of the half. The Biscuits pulled within a game of the lead on May 31 before losing seven of its next eight games.

Despite having the second-best record in the Southern League, the Biscuits will now turn their attention to the second-half race to keep their playoff hopes alive.

Pensacola (33-34) led the South Division for the first 32 games of the season, holding a five-game lead over Biloxi in the middle of that stretch before the Shuckers closed the first half with a 29-14 record over the final 43 games heading into this weekend. Biloxi has led the South Division over the last 40 games with games remaining on Saturday and Sunday.

Pensacola, meanwhile, suffered a franchise-record 11 straight losses to close out the month of May and are 14-25 since May 6 with two first-half games remaining.

The first half ends on Sunday. The second half starts on Tuesday, with Montgomery playing host to Rocket City in a six-game series at Riverwalk Stadium.

The four Southern League playoff participants will be the winners of each division from both halves based on the best winning percentage of each half. In the event the same club wins both halves, the club with the next best winning percentage in the second half will advance.

The Biscuits have earned nine consecutive trips to the Southern League playoffs, the longest stretch in the history of the league.

Chattanooga (35-28) has a slight lead in winning percentage (.556 to .552) over defending league champion Birmingham (37-30) for the first-half title in the North Division. Both teams are currently playing the bottom two teams in the league, with Chattanooga at Rocket City and Columbus at Birmingham.