NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



Palm Beach Cardinals

Mercado Walks It Off In Style

May 27, 2016 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Palm Beach Cardinals News Release


Jupiter, FL - Oscar Mercado hit a single in the ninth inning to give the Palm Beach Cardinals (23-26) a 3-2 walk off win over the Jupiter Hammerheads (25-24) on Friday evening.

The Rundown

Jack Flaherty would get the start and never look back as he tossed six scoreless inning, giving up four hits, walking two batters and striking out nine. He would have his first outing of the year in which he would not surrender a run to the opponent.

The Cardinals would strike first in the game as Michael Pritchard and Allen Staton would start off the second inning with back to back doubles. Pritchard would then come across for the first run of the game as Orlando Olivera would ground out to the shortstop. The Cardinals would get nothing else across as Steve Bean and Mercado would both strike out.

Flaherty would get stronger over the next few frames holding on the 1-0 lead through the sixth inning. Chandler Hawkins would then spell Flaherty after he threw 96 pitches. Hawkins would toss a scoreless seventh, but run into trouble in the eighth as he would give up a leadoff triple to Junior Sosa. Landon Beck would come on to pitch for Hawkins, but Sosa would then score on a Dexter Kjerstad sacrifice fly to knot the game up at one.

Jupiter would take a 2-1 lead in the top of the ninth as Brad Haynal would hit a one out double and score on a Chris Hoo single that would just get under the glove of a diving Mercado. Beck would then get out of the inning only giving up the one run.

The bottom of the ninth is when everything started to roll for Palm Beach. Jose Velez would walk Casey Grayson and Michael Pritchard on eight straight pitches. Staton would then hit a single to center to load the bases for Orlando Olivera. Olivera would draw the third walk of the inning allowing Grayson to score the game tying run. Steve Bean would then strike out on a 2-2 count allowing Mercado to come to the plate. Mercado would hit a blooper to center field that would fall into the Bermuda Triangle between the centerfielder, shortstop and second baseman, allowing Pritchard to cross the plate for the game winning run.

Stat of the Game

3 - Palm Beach drew three walks in the ninth inning, one that would score the tying run, to be able to make the comeback happen.

Quote of the Game

Vaughn Bryan on his first home run of the season," It felt great. I finally made the best contact of the season on that pitch and thankfully it got out of the park. It was a good feeling."

Notes

Allen Staton hit two doubles on the evening. The Cardinals hit three as a team.

Flaherty would strike out nine batters, a season high for him and also a team high for Palm Beach.

The walk off in the ninth would be the first win for the Cardinals this season on the last at bat of the game.

Staton would also be the only player on the Cardinals team to have a multi-hit game as he recorded three hits.

Next Up

Palm Beach and Jupiter will play game two of the three game series tomorrow evening as Jupiter will be the home team at Roger Dean Stadium. It will be Halfway to Halloween at the ballpark so come out dressed in your favorite Halloween costume, trick or treat and be here for the 4:45 helicopter candy drop. First pitch will be at 5:30.

Check out the Palm Beach Cardinals Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Florida State League message board...

Florida State League Stories from May 27, 2016


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Palm Beach Cardinals Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central