Montgomery Biscuits Opening Day Preview, What to Look For

Your Montgomery Biscuits finally open the season at home today, facing the Biloxi Shuckers in a five game homestand. The excitement of a new year is full of new hopes and plenty of new faces on the roster for Montgomery. Here is a quick look at the team!

NEW SKIPPER
New manager Morgan Ensberg brings big league experience to the team. The fourth manager in Biscuits history, Ensberg is the first with a major league resume'. In just his third year in the managers chair, Mo has a fabulous 118w-96L success rate. His eight MLB seasons, mostly with the Astros, includes two postseason seasons, a World Series homer, an All Star appearance, a Silver Slugger award and one lone appearance at shortstop.


BISCUITS!

1B Dalton Kelly - returns to handle the first sack

2B Tristan Gray - had a great winter in Australian baseball, could be ready to break out

SS Lucius Fox -  Luscious Lucius has great range, back as a Biscuit but for how long?

3B Kevin Padlo - moving up the Rays ladder at the hot corner, Padlo will need to hit

RF Jesus Sanchez -  Soos is fun to watch and will a big part of the Biscuits offense

CF Josh Lowe - had nine outfield assists last year, if off to a fast start at the plate already this year

LF Tommy Milone - returns to Biscuits outfield, likely to get starts in centerfield as well

C Brett Sullivan/Rene Pinto Sully was a big part of last years squad, Pinto looks to have good skills

BENCH
1B/2B Robbie Tenerowicz - right side of the infield man can hit
2B/SS Jermaine Palacios - smooth defender returns to Biscuits middle infield
Utility Miles Mastrobuoni - has appeared at every position except catcher and first base in his career
DH Brendan McKay - the two way player is listed at 1B but says he will only DH, no fielding.

PITCHERS

We will take a deeper look at the Biscuits hurlers in the next installment! I would like to see these guys before going just on their numbers, as well as get a better handle on how the Opener will be chosen.

Regular starting pitchers Kenny Rosenberg and Josh Fleming both made good starts on the road.

Phoenix Sanders and Ivan Palaez both got starts in the Opener role in the first series.

Two way prospect Brendan McKay will make the Opening Night start to round out the first time thru the Montgomery rotation.

Blake Bivens and Tyler Zombro both came out of the bullpen to pitch multiple innings and could be headed for the rotation once they get their stamina up to speed.

Bullpen is all guessing and question marks in April, roles will start to become apparent over the next couple weeks. Lots for Biscuit fans to look for in this series!

WHAT TO LOOK FOR

BILOXI SHUCKERS
The Shuckers aren't exactly loaded in the prospect department, but they have plenty of life in them without getting big ticket players. The top three hitters in the league are Shuckers, Thomas, Hinojosa and Allemand all batting over .400 to begin the year.


Look for former Biscuit Patrick Leonard to make a return to Riverwalk as a Shucker.

Biloxi pitchers have yet to allow a home run. Look for them to give one up to a Biscuit.

Look for the Shuckers to throw strikes after allowing 24 bases on balls in five games to start the year. Alternatively, look for Shuckers coaches with their veins bulging while they curse and at their notebooks.

A look at the Biloxi rotation, probably.
Marcos Diplan
Trey Supak
Braden Webb
Thomas Jankins
Alec Bettinger

 MONTGOMERY BISCUITS

For the Biscuits, fans will get a look at some new uniforms. Several variants of the Biscuits jerseys are in use this season, including a military Wednesday with camo letters (as seen on right) that will be in use Opening Night, the first time the Biscuits haven't worn white at their home opener.

Morgan Ensberg will get his first look at Riverwalk Stadium during game time.

Look for plenty of life in Brendan McKay's pitching arm, the youngster is a prospect.

Outfielder Jesus Sanchez will look to improve on his Homer total at Riverwalk from last year (1).

The Biscuits have been putting up a lot of runs but could find Biloxi much tougher to score against. Look for tough Shuckers pitching and some close games.

Biscuits pitchers have to look for a way to allow fewer baserunners, only the MBraves have more opponent traffic on their basepaths.

Game number one!

HISTORY THIS WEEK!

 APRIL 11 1948 
The Philadelphia Phils beat the Washington Senators in Montgomery, 9-1 at Cramton Bowl.

APRIL11 1949 

Bud Lively

The Cinci Reds beat Montgomery 11-0 in exhibition game.

The game was pitched by Buddy Lively, who we met at the Biscuits game about ten years ago. Bud was one of oldest living major leaguers until his passing in 2015, a colorful and dare I say *lively* character. Both Buddy and his dad Jack Lively pitched for Montgomery, perhaps the greatest father/son duo in Montgomery history.

APRIL 12 1920 
NEGRO SOUTHERN LEAGUE FORMED
"Southern League Formed - Montgomery, Alabama, April 12. - Final plans for the completion of the proposed Negro Southern Baseball League resulted in the formation of an eight club circuit, with a bright prospect of 10 cities composing the final arrangement of the organization.

A bird's eye view of the league reveals excellent grounds for the success of the venture; the cities selected appeal to be about evenly balanced in population, have good transportation facilities and are not too long a distance removed from each other for a heavy mileage to cut serious inroads and thus weigh heavily against the proper financial progress of the promoters.

C.I. Taylor who was cited for Conspicuous service through putting into being a like organization in the northwest, was a deeply interested participant in the final arrangements, and his words of wisdom went a long ways towards encouraging options on franchises.

The following cities qualified for franchises in the new league: Birmingham, Nashville, Knoxville, Atlanta, Pensacola, Montgomery, New Orleans, Jacksonville. A committee on the arrangement of a schedule hopes by the end of the week to have their dates alloted, as the opening day is set for April 29."

APRIL 12 1946 

Montgomery scores four runs in 10th to edge U of A in Tuscaloosa by a score of 12-8.

Dixie Walker manger, saw Montgomery win 12-8 with the Rebels tying the game with four runs in the seventh inning. The same teams play again the next day in a rematch at Cramton Bowl


APRIL 13 1946 
Montgomery faces U of Alabama at Cramton Bowl, score unreported.