Olmstead, O’Donnell spark Jacksonville’s late rally past Memphis 4-3

Jacksonville did not need a barrage to finish off Memphis, just two swings in the middle innings and one more in the seventh. Johnny Olmstead’s two-run homer and Ethan O’Donnell’s go-ahead two-run double carried the Jumbo Shrimp to a 4-3 win Saturday night at VyStar Ballpark, a comeback that fit the final game of a six-game homestand and sent 6,179 fans home with the loudest finish of the series.

Memphis struck first in the second inning when Noah Mendlinger singled with the bases loaded, then added a third run in the fifth on César Prieto’s sacrifice fly. Jacksonville entered the night at 46-33 overall and 4-1 in the series, while the Redbirds came in at 48-32 and 1-4, but the early gap still put pressure on a lineup that had been uneven for stretches of the homestand.

The turnaround started in the sixth. Garret Forrester drew a walk to open the inning, and Olmstead followed with his sixth home run of the 2026 season, trimming the deficit to 3-2 and jolting the game back into reach. That swing mattered because Jacksonville had spent much of the night looking for a clean opening against a Memphis club that had made scoring difficult at times during the series.

The decisive move came in the seventh, and it came the hard way. Matthew Etzel worked a walk, Jacob Berry singled, and a bunt plus an error loaded the bases before O’Donnell delivered the go-ahead double. The sequence showed the kind of late-inning patience that can rescue a Triple-A homestand: one hitter extending the inning, another forcing a mistake, and a third punishing the opening.

That was enough for Jacksonville to steal the final frame and cap a homestand that included Saturday Night Fireworks and the club’s Red Caps Weekend salute to the Negro Leagues. For a team that entered the season with the weight of being the 2025 International League and Triple-A National Champion, wins like this carry extra value because they keep the tone of a long home stand from drifting. Jacksonville also had already beaten Memphis 4-3 at VyStar Ballpark on Sept. 11, 2025, another one-run result over the Redbirds, and this latest finish fit the same script: tight game, late swing, Jacksonville standing at the end.