Alderman, Serna power Jacksonville past Gwinnett to snap skid

Kemp Alderman and Jared Serna turned one inning into a reset button for Jacksonville. Their combined power in the second carried the Jumbo Shrimp to a 6-3 win over Gwinnett at Gwinnett Field, ending a five-game slide and giving the reigning Triple-A champions a needed jolt in front of 3,009 fans.

Jacksonville scored four times in the second and never trailed. Alderman opened the frame with his third homer of the season, then Serna followed two batters later with his first of the year, a three-run blast that pushed the lead to 4-0 and forced Gwinnett starter Lucas Braun to spend the rest of the night working from behind. The outburst came after a scoreless first, but it was built on the kind of sequence Jacksonville has been trying to find all month, with Maximo Acosta and Jesús Bastidas both helping set the table before the big swing.

Gwinnett answered with some quick damage of its own. José Azócar hit a solo homer in the bottom of the second, and the Stripers trimmed the margin again in the third when Brewer Hicklen scored on a wild pitch after a walk and some pressure on the bases. Still, Jacksonville had enough separation to avoid panic, and Robby Snelling held the line long enough for the offense to add more breathing room.

Snelling earned the win by working 5.0 innings, allowing two hits and two earned runs while walking five and striking out four. Braun took the loss after giving up six runs over 5.1 innings. Jacksonville extended the lead in the sixth when Maximo Acosta drove in a run with a fielder’s choice and Matthew Etzel added an RBI single. Gwinnett picked up one last run in the ninth on Ben Gamel’s double and Luke Williams’ single, but William Kempner shut the door by striking out Brewer Hicklen and Jim Jarvis.

The result left Jacksonville at 12-13 while Gwinnett fell to 16-9, though the Stripers still led the six-game series 3-1. For a club trying to stabilize after a rough stretch, the second inning looked less like a lucky burst and more like a reminder that the core still has enough thump to change a game fast. Jim Jarvis also reached base again, extending his International League-best on-base streak to 24 games, while Sean Murphy started at designated hitter for Gwinnett and went 0-for-4.