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FSL1 Charlotte Stone Crabs

\'Crabs Drop Third Straight

July 5, 2015 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Charlotte Stone Crabs News Release


PORT CHARLOTTE, FL (July 4, 2015) "" Just one night after leaving Bradenton with yet another painful loss in the ninth inning, the Stone Crabs found themselves in another battle with the visiting Cardinals. Despite dropping eight of the first nine meetings between the teams, Palm Beach came in and relied on several newcomers to start this three game series. Before the largest Charlotte Sports Park crowd of the season, the Cardinals got both runs batted in from Danny Diekroeger while righthander Daniel Poncedeleon coasted across six scoreless innings in his Florida State League debut. By the time the crowd of 5,928 was ready for Independence Day fireworks, the Cardinals had a 2-1 win in their pocket after it came down to the very end.

Although Taylor Guerrieri struck out seven Cardinals across three innings, a busy first inning ramped up his pitch count early in his start. He hit CJ McElroy with a 1-2 pitch to start the ballgame after a 44 minute rain delay, and watched Diekroeger rope a triple into the right field corner to put Palm Beach up 1-0 two batters in. Guerrieri retired the next three, including strikeouts of Luke Voit and Collin Radack to end the inning.

The Cardinals went back to work in the second when a pair of singles by Carson Kelly and Casey Turgeon and a walk to McElroy loaded the bases for Diekroeger with two outs. This time, Guerrieri (1-1) got even with a strikeout before punching out the side during his final inning in the third. However, the Stone Crabs could never solve Poncedeleon (1-0), who faced the minimum through his first four innings. In the fifth, Jace Conrad and Maxx Tissenbaum successfully executed a double steal following a pair of singles. But Yoel Araujo flied out to right for the final out.

Kyle McKenzie came back for his fourth inning of relief in the seventh, having retired nine straight after a leadoff double by right fielder Blake Drake in the fourth. Kelly started with a grounder to short that banged off Willy Adames for an error. Another single by Turgeon and a bunt single for number nine hitter Robelys Reyes loaded the bases and ended McKenzie's night immediately. Isaac Gil came in and got McElroy to fly out to shallow left for the first out. Diekroeger lined a shot back up the box that scored Kelly for a 2-0 lead, but a smart throw from Braxton Lee nailed Turgeon at third for the second out and quelled the threat.

Drake put his defense on display proudly in the seventh when he took a home run away from Conrad on a leaping catch at the wall in right for the second out. Tissenbaum later led off the eighth against Blake McKnight in his Cardinals debut with a grounder near first that glanced off Voit for an error. Lee singled into left center to put the tying runs on base for Marty Gantt, who brought in the Stone Crabs first run with a single into left. Radack's throw sailed by everyone and ended up against the backstop, and the tying and go-ahead runs advanced into scoring position. Josh Lucas replaced McKnight, and walked Kean Wong on four pitches to load the bases. However, in a flash of brilliance, Kelly got up quickly and threw back to third to nab Lee for the second out. The Stone Crabs wouldn't get any closer, hitting into a season-high four double plays while the Cardinals went 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position.

Charlotte's recent power surge continued in the top of the inning when Yoel Araujo drilled Eppler's (1-1) 1-2 offering into the "?Crabs bullpen in left to give them their first run. In the sixth, Isaac Sanchez walked Gillaspie and Maxx Tissenbaum before surrendering a single to Pat Blair that loaded the bases. Although it turned into a revolving door for the Marauders bullpen, Sanchez struck out Braxton Lee with a high fastball out of the zone.

Felipe Gonzalez followed Sanchez in the seventh and started his night by drilling Araujo with an 0-2 pitch. With two outs and Jaso at first after a fielder's choice groundout, Willy Adames blasted his second home run in as many nights to cut the deficit in half at 6-3. Once again, the Marauders had a quick answer when Mathisen brought in the final run in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single off Kyle McKenzie.

The middle game of the series is Sunday at 1:00 PM when German Marquez (4-7, 3.43 ERA) and Luke Weaver (1-4, 2.97 ERA) try to inch closer to the .500 mark. All kids 13 and under eat FREE with the purchase of a regular priced ticket! Tickets are still available, so visit www.stonecrabsbaseball.com or call 941-206-HITS (4487) to order your tickets now!

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Florida State League Stories from July 5, 2015


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