Braves minor league recap: Ethan Bagwell strikes out eight for Augusta

At the plate, Brewer Hicklen continued his somewhat surprisingly hot start to the season, as he launched his eighth homer of the season. Hicklen turned on a 2-1 fastball and pulled it over the left field wall at 102.7 miles per hour to extend the Gwinnett lead to 2-0 in the bottom of the third inning.

On the season, Hicklen is batting .327 across 107 at-bats while driving in 19 runners and stealing 14 bases with an OPS of 1.002 as well. Hicklen has been one of the better stories in the Braves minor leagues so far this season and he’s positioning himself to be considered for a call-up in the event of an injury or other circumstance.

Brett Wisely and Nacho Alvarez Jr. both also had solid nights at the plate, with the former going 3-5 with a double and an RBI and the latter going 1-4 with a pair of RBI to his credit.

Alvarez has had a rough go of it to start the season, as he’s carrying an OPS of just .658, but he is riding a five-game hitting streak after Friday, so it’s possible he has turned a positive corner.

(18-18) Columbus Clingstones 6, (20-17) Tennessee Smokies 5

• Patrick Clohisy, CF: 3-4, 2 2B, 2 RBI, 2 R
• David McCabe, 1B: 2-4, RBI
• Ethan Workinger, LF: 1-3, 2 RBI, R
• Julio Robaina, SP: 4.1 IP, 3 H, ER, 3 BB, 3 K

Box Score

What’s better than a close win over a rival? How about a walk off victory over your rival?

Ethan Workinger played hero for Columbus in this one, but we’ll get to that in a bit.

Julio Robaina got the start on the mound for Columbus — his first as a member of Atlanta’s farm system — and while he only managed to go 4.1 innings, he held Tennessee to just one run scored on three hits. Robaina also walked three and struck out three in the process as well.

It was a solid outing for the lefty as he tries to cement himself as a potential relief option down the road for the big league club — albeit he has a long way to go before that conversation becomes a reality.

Back to Friday’s action, Robaina got solid run support despite only getting two extra-base hits from his offense — both of which came from the same player, Patrick Clohisy.

The first of Clohisy’s doubles came in the first at-bat of the game for Columbus, as he doubled in the bottom of the first and later came around to score.

David McCabe put the Clingstones on the board for the first time in the bottom of the first as he lined a 2-0 pitch back up the middle to plate Clohisy and tie the game at 1-1.

In the home half of the third, Clohisy laced the second of his two doubles on the night, a line drive into right field that plated two runs to give Columbus their first lead of the night, a 3-1 lead.

As we mentioned earlier, Workinger came through in a huge way for Columbus in this one.

Trailing 5-4 with one out and an 0-2 count in the bottom of the ninth, Workinger managed to take a breaking ball and serve it through the hole in between shortsop and third base to score both Ambioris Tavarez and Lizandro Espinoza to give Columbus the 6-5 victory on the night, which also moves the Clingstones to .500 on the season.

(20-17) Rome Emperors 5, (10-26) Brooklyn Cyclones 8

• Isaiah Drake, CF: 2-5, RBI
• John Gil, SS: 1-4, RBI
• Cam Caminiti, SP: 5 IP, 3 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 6 K

Box Score

Cam Caminiti didn’t have his best stuff on Friday as Rome ultimately fell by an 8-5 final against Brooklyn.

On the night, Caminiti managed to get through five innings, but gave up three runs on three hits in the process. While he did strike out six, the biggest issue Caminiti had was walks, as he issued five free passes on the night.

On the surface, Caminiti has not exactly been sharp to start the season, as he’s currently carrying an ERA of 5.35 with a WHIP of 1.43. However, his FIP of 3.87 with a BABIP of .348, which suggests he is suffering from some bad luck, so hopefully the baseline numbers will begin to turn around in his favor soon. He has, however, struck out 41 batters in 37 innings and all of his pitch metrics appear to be as good as the ever have been.

Getting back to Friday, Rome was only outhit by a 10-7 margin, but failed to match Brooklyn in terms of runs on the board despite a last inning comeback.

Rome trailed from the jump in this one, as Brooklyn plated three total runs across the first two innings to give the Emperors an early 3-0 deficit. However, Rome did manage to score twice in the bottom of the second as Colby Jones scored on a wild pitch and Colin BUrgess singled home Logan Braunschweig to make it a 3-2 game.

It remained a one-run game until the top of the eighth when the Cyclones scored three runs and then scored twice more in the top of the ninth to extend their lead to 8-2.

In the home half of the ninth, the Emperors’ bats woke up as Mason Guerra scored on a Jake Steels single and Isaiah Drake laced a double to score Burgess to cut the deficit down to 8-4. Steels later came around to score on a John Gil sacrifice fly to make it an 8-5 game, but that would be the last of the offense Rome could muster as the Emperors fell by the 8-5 final.

(19-18) Augusta GreenJackets 6, (18-17) Myrtle Beach Pelicans 7

• Luis Guanipa, CF: 2-4
• Tate Southisene, 2B: 0-4, RBI
• Juan Mateo, 3B: 1-4, 3B, RBI, R
• Dalton McIntyre, RF: 1-3, RBI, 2 R, BB
• Ethan Bagwell, SP: 6 IP, 2 H, 2 BB, 8 K

Box Score

Despite getting a superb start from Ethan Bagwell, Augusta came up short in their one-run loss on Friday.

Simply put, Bagwell was tremendous. In six innings of work, Bagwell held Myrtle Beach scoreless while holding the Pelicans to just two hits and two walks, while striking out eight on the night.

With Friday night’s performance, Bagwell has continued a dominating trend to begin his 2026 campaign.

In seven starts and 39 innings of work, the 20-year-old carries an ERA of 2.31 while striking out 39 and only walking 12 in those 39 innings. While it is incredibly encouraging to see Bagwell dominate, he is only 20 innings shy of his career-high in innings pitched for his professional career.

Hopefully he can remain healthy and if he does, Rome will undoubtedly be calling before the next month ends if he continues this torrid stretch.

While Bagwell was doing his thing, his offense managed to give him a little support, scoring two runs in the top of the fifth to take a 2-0 lead as Cooper McMurray singled home Dalton McIntyre to get things started. Tate Southisene later brought Dallas Macias home via sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 2-0.

While Augusta tacked on an additional run in the top of the seventh, the bottom fell out in the home half of the inning as the bullpen absolutely collapsed.

Kade Woods was called on to relieve Bagwell beginning in the home half of the seventh and it could not have gone much worse for the 23-year-old. In just one-third of an inning, Woods was knocked around for seven runs (six earned) on six hits and issuing one walk as Myrtle Beach managed to take a 7-3 lead.

Lefty Adiel Melendez had arguably his best pro performance on Friday, as the Montevallo University product struck out three across 1.2 innings of work while holding the Pelicans hitless and scoreless in the process.

In the top of the eighth, the GreenJackets tried to claw their way back into it as they scored three times to cut the deficit to 7-6. Juan Mateo had the biggest at-bat of the inning as he tripled home Nick Montgomery for the lone extra-base hit on the night for Augusta.

However, that would prove too little, too late as the GreenJackets ultimately fell by the one run deficit.