BIRMINGHAM – The Rocket City Trash Pandas continued their winning ways Wednesday afternoon, grabbing a 1-0 victory over the Birmingham Barons in the Rickwood Classic.
With the win, the Trash Pandas (20-31) improved to 6-2 over their last eight games and took a 2-0 lead in the current series. The Barons dropped to 28-24.
Wednesday’s game in front of 4,190 fans celebrated the history of baseball and paid tribute to the Negro Leagues.
The Trash Pandas honored the Huntsville Stars, a Negro Minor League team from the 1940s and 1950s, while Birmingham wore the historic uniforms of the Birmingham Black Barons.
This was the Trash Pandas’ first appearance in the Rickwood Classic. The modern Huntsville Stars participated three times – 1999, 2003, and 2004.
Theannual game was held from 1996 to 2019 and returned in 2024 with the Montgomery Biscuits and Barons facing off, plus a Major League game between St. Louis and San Francisco.
Rickwood Field opened in 1910 and is the oldest professional baseball park in the United States. It served as the home field for the Birmingham Barons and the Birmingham Black Barons, featuring legendary players such as Willie Mays, who began his professional career there at age 17 in 1948.
On Wednesday, Walbert Ureña (W, 3-3), Jordan Holloway (H, 3), Nick Jones (H, 2), and Camden Minacci (S, 1) combined to deliver a seven-hit shutout, marking the Trash Pandas’ first 1-0 victory since Sept. 17, 2022, against Birmingham at Toyota Field.
Ureña made his team-leading 11th start and tossed 6 innings while allowing only four hits, walking three, and striking out three. In his last two starts, the 21-year-old has given up just one run over 13 innings.
Rocket City scored the game’s only run in the fifth inning. Cole Fontenelle began the inning with a single and then stole second base. With two outs, Mac McCroskey singled to left, bringing Fontenelle home to score.
The Trash Pandas threatened to extend their lead in the sixth inning with a single from Denzer Guzman, but Birmingham left fielder Rikuu Nishida threw out David Calabrese at the plate. Calabrese was thrown out again in the eighth inning on another single from Guzman.
Rocket City’s pitching staff has been dominant over the past eight games, with a league-best 1.70 ERA since May 27, and Wednesday, they recorded their second shutout of the season.
Holloway took over for Ureña in the seventh inning, striking out two batters and allowing one hit. Jones pitched a perfect eighth inning. Minacci had some traffic in the ninth, allowing Ryan Galanie to lead off with a single. He retired the next two batters, including a strikeout of Jacob Gonzalez. However, after a wild pitch advanced Galanie, DJ Gladney hit a single off Minacci, putting the tying run on third base. Minacci managed to strike out Caden Connor on the fifth pitch of the at-bat, ending the game and sealing the win for the Trash Pandas.
Nelson Rada led the game off with a single to left, upping his on-base streak to 13 games. Former Baron Oscar Colás made his Trash Pandas debut Wednesday, going 2-for-4. Guzman also had a multi-hit afternoon, finishing 2-for-4.
Calabrese, who entered the game as a defensive replacement in the fifth inning, had a single and a walk, and stole two bases. Evan Edwards, who signed with the Angels on Tuesday, made his Trash Pandas debut but went 0-for-4.
Game three of the six-game series will move back to Regions Field tonight, with the first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m.. The Trash Pandas will send left-hander Mitch Farris (0-2, 4.03) to the mound to face Birmingham left-hander Tommy Vail (0-0, 3.38). Coverage will begin at 6:45 p.m. on Talk Radio WZZN 97.7 HD-2.
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