The Jumbo Shrimp celebrate their Triple A championship Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025, in Las Vegas. | MLB.com
Published on September 29, 2025 at 11:07 am
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The Jumbo Shrimp put a bow on the season in the only way they knew possible — with an epic finish to win the Triple-A national championship on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Jacob Berry belted a two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth to deliver Jacksonville an 8-7 win and Triple-A national championship.
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It was the team’s first true Triple-A championship. The team won the International League Triple-A title in 1968, but there was no additional championship game that year like there was this year.
It was a chaotic and roller coaster of a finish, with Jacksonville in total control until the top of the ninth.
The Aviators pushed five runs across with one out to take a 7-6 lead, putting any sort of Jacksonville celebration on ice.
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Jack Winkler singled to open the bottom of the ninth for the Jumbo Shrimp, and Victor Mesa Jr. whiffed. But Berry sliced a laser over the right-centerfield wall and touched off a celebration decades in the making.
It was almost nearly a disaster.
Jacksonville took a 6-3 lead into the top of the ninth before the Aviators got moving. Matt Pushard replaced Josh White on the mound to open the inning, but didn’t even record an out.
A single, a walk and another single chased him from the game for Robby Snelling. The Aviators drew a walk and then a fielder’s choice that scored a run to make it 6-4. One batter later, Bryan Lavastida blasted a three-run homer for a 7-6 lead.
The brutal ninth ended a solid eight innings for the Jumbo Shrimp. Jack Winkler and Joe Mack went deep just three batters apart in the bottom of the third as part of a four-run inning to give the Jumbo Shrimp a lead that it wouldn’t give back until the ninth.
It marked Jacksonville’s first Triple-A championship of any kind since the 1968 season when it won the Triple-A International League title. Jacksonville, then the Suns, beat Columbus for the Governors’ Cup and the International League Triple-A crown.
In the Triple-A Pacific Coast League that year, the Tulsa Drillers beat Spokane for the title. The Mexican League was also considered Triple-A that year, and Diablos Rojos del México won.
Now, the International League and Pacific Coast League winners meet for the overall national title.
The team shifted to Double-A and the Southern League after that, and Jacksonville won its first Southern League crown in 1996. They were co-champions in 2001 before winning titles in 2005, 2009 and 2010 in the Southern League.
Their last title before Saturday night was a Southern League championship in 2014.
This story was produced by News4Jax, a Jacksonville Today news partner.
