Brevard County Manatees �5, �Bradenton Marauders �4 (box)
The Marauders too could not hold on to their lead in the late innings. �The Manatees got onto the scoreboard first, with a run in the 2nd inning on a solo homer, and another run in the 6th on a single, two stolen bases, and an RBI ground out. �Starter Jeff Locke pitched 6 strong innings and allowed only those two runs, on those two hits plus one more — a single in the 3rd. �He did not walk any batters, while striking out 8.
Bradenton batters went down in order for the first two innings, but threatened in the 3rd. �Singles by 1B Erik Huber and SS Greg Picart, plus a walk by C Eric Fryer loaded the bases with one out, but a strikeout and a fly out ended the inning with all three runners still on base. �The loaded the bases again in the 4th, this time with two outs, on a walk by DH Calvin Anderson and singles by CF Austin McClune and Huber. �Once again the inning ended with all three left stranded.
The Marauders finally got onto the scoreboard int he 7th. �With one out, Greg Picart singled, and then he advanced to second base on an error on a pick-off throw. �Eric Fryer walked, and RF Robbie Grossman drove in Picart with a double into center field. �Eric Fryer went to third, but he injured his ankle on the play, and had to leave the game. �He was replaced by pinch-runner Adenson Chourio. �After a walk to 3B Jeremy Farrell, 2B James Skelton singled, scoring both Chourio and Grossman. �Another single by Calvin Anderson brought in Farrell, to give the Marauders a 4-2 lead.
It wasn’t enough, though. �Ramon Aguero came on to pitch the 7th and 8th innings, and he threw 2 scoreless innings, allowing 2 hits. �Noah Krol took the mound for the 9th. �He got a ground out, then walked a batter. �Then he got a strikeout, and gave up a single. �Then a 3-run walk-off home run ended the game, with Krol charged with both the Blown Save and the loss.
No further word at this point on Fryer’s injury. �It does put the Marauders in a tough spot, as their two main catchers are now both out with injuries — Tony Sanchez sat out again today, after he was hit in the head with a pitch last week. �James Skelton stepped up to catch after Fryer had to leave the game.
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West Virginia Power �5, �Asheville Tourists �1 (box)
The Power and the Tourists had to make up a game from April 19th. �Double headers are supposed to be two 7-inning games, but that presumes that there is a winner after 7 innings. �In Game 1, that was not the case, as the pitchers decided to duel.
The Power got a single from RF David Rubinstein in the 1st inning, then had two 1-2-3 innings. �2B Jarek Cunningham was hit by a pitch in the 4th, and moved to second base on a balk. �DH Jose Hernandez walked in the 5th. �None of those runners came around to score. �Finally in the 6th inning, the Power put the first run onto the scoreboard, with a walk by CF Evan Chambers, a fly ball force out at second to put Cunningham on first, and a double by Rubinstein, scoring Cunningham.
Phillip Irwin pitched 5 scoreless innings, scattering 5 hits, no walks. �He retired 9 batters in order from the 1st to the 4th innings. �Jhonatan Ramos came on for the 6th inning, and loaded the bases with a double, a walk, and a hit batter, but got out of the jam with a line out to center field. �Zach Foster was charged with a Blown Save when he gave up a tying run in the bottom of the 7th, on a walk and a double. �That sent the game into “extra innings”, beyond the scheduled 7 innings.
Both teams put runners on base without scoring in each of their at-bats over the next two innings. �Cunningham doubled in the 8th; �3B Elevys Gonzalez singled and Hernandez walked in the 9th. �Ramos gave up a walk in the 8th, and Marc Baca also gave up a walk in the 9th.
The top of the 10th began with a walk to Chambers. �Cunningham dropped down a sacrifice bunt, moving Chambers to second, but Cunningham beat the throw and was also safe at first. �A double play erased Cunningham, but moved Chambers to third. �LF Rogelios Noris drove in Chambers with a line drive single, and C Ramon Cabrera added another single. �That set up Jesus Brito, who had taken over for Gonzalez as a pinch runner in the 9th. �Brito took a long fly over the right field wall for a 3-run homer, and the Power had a 5-1 lead. �Baca earned the win when he retired the Tourists in the bottom of the inning.
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Tourists �8, �Power �2 (box)
The second game went 7 innings like it was supposed to, with all the scoring happening early. �The Power began the game with a double by CF Evan Chambers. �2B Jarek Cunningham was hit by a pitch, and RF David Rubinstein loaded the bases with a single. �LF Jose Hernandez drove in both Chambers and Cunningham with a single into left field, and the Power had the early 2-0 lead.
The Tourists tied the game right away, with a 2-run homer following a double in the bottom of the frame off starter Maurice Bankston. They repeated the trick in the 2nd inning, with another double and another 2-run homer. �Then things really fell apart for Bankston in the 3rd. �A single, a stolen base, and a wild pitch put the first batter of the inning on third base. �At that point, Power pitching coach Jeff Johnson was ejected from the game by the home plate umpire. �The Tourists continued with an RBI double, a single, and their third homer of the game, �this one for 3 runs. �Another single and double followed, but Evan Chambers threw out a runner at the plate to end the inning.
Ryan Kelly gave up that last double in the 3rd inning, then pitched 2 scoreless innings, allowing 2 more hits. �Duke Welker pitched the 7th inning, also giving up a hit.
After the 1st inning, the Power put a runner on base in each inning, though could not come around to score. �Four batters reached on walks. �C Pat Irvine singled in the 4th, SS Benji Gonzalez singled in the 6th, and Cunningham doubled to lead off the 7th.
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