FSL1 Palm Beach Cardinals

Cards Sweep Doubleheader

Published on July 28, 2011 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Palm Beach Cardinals News Release


Game One

CARDS HOLD ON FOR 6-5 GAME ONE WIN

Greg Garcia Homers as Palm Beach Survives Five-Run Inning from Lakeland

LAKELAND, Fla. -Greg Garcia hit his first homer of the season and the Palm Beach Cardinals (18-16, 47-56) survived a five-run fourth inning from the Lakeland Flying Tigers (13-18, 49-52) in a 6-5 victory Thursday night in game one of a doubleheader at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Tyler Lyons (4-3, 4.45 ERA) held Lakeland hitless until the big fourth-inning rally but survived the damage to earn his fourth victory of the season, second as a starter. The tall left-hander, in his first professional season out of Oklahoma State University, allowed seven hits and five earned runs in 5.0 innings while walking two and striking out four.

Garcia got the Cardinals off to a fast start with a first-inning solo homer and the team's offensive prowess continued into the second. Niko Vasquezstruck a one-out single, stole second and came around to score on a Luis De La Cruz RBI-single for the first tally, followed quickly by a run-scoring triple from Ted Obregon. Starlin Rodriguez capped the frame with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Obregon and putting the Cards up 4-0 after two.

Rodriguez came back to the plate in the fourth and kept the inning alive with a two-out single, scoring De La Cruz and advancing all the way to third on an error from Brent Wyatt. The 21-year-old Dominican Republic native then scored on a subsequent wild pitch from Lakeland starter Trevor Feeney (7-10, 4.27 ERA) to give the Cards a seemingly comfortable 6-0 lead.

Lyons' three-inning no-hitter was abruptly broken up, along with the shutout, to begin the fourth with a leadoff single and two-run homer by Tony Plagman. Avisail Garcia kept the frame alive following consecutive strikeouts and Corey Jones was hit by a pitch to put two men on with two outs for Daniel Fields, who blasted his seventh homer of the year over the wall in right to suddenly draw the score to 6-5.

Rainel Rosario was thrown out at home in the fifth to account for any remaining Palm Beach scoring threats, but left-hander Justin Wrightpreserved the one-run lead into the ninth before giving way to Keith Butler. Butler came on to strike out the final hitter of the ballgame and preserve the 6-5 victory, earning his team-high sixth save in the process.

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Game Two

GARCIA LEADS CARDINALS TO DOUBLEHEADER SWEEP

Palm Beach Takes Three-of-Four from Lakeland and Finishes with Winning Road Trip

LAKELAND, Fla. - Greg Garcia had a pair of hits and scored a run and Kevin Siegrist pitched four scoreless innings in his first game back from the disabled list to lead the Palm Beach Cardinals (19-16, 48-56) to a 3-1 victory over the Lakeland Flying Tigers (13-19, 49-53) Thursday night in game two of a doubleheader at Joker Marchant Stadium.

With the win the Cardinals sweep the doubleheader and end up taking 3-of-4 from the Flying Tigers on the road. Palm Beach finishes it's season-long eight-game road trip 5-3 and has also now won three straight.

The Cardinals started off hot just like in game one with a run in the first, once again ignited by Garcia. The second-year University of Hawaii alumnus doubled to lead off the contest, moved to third on a groundout and came home to score on a RBI-groundout by Rainel Rosario to give the Cards an early 1-0 lead.

Neither team did much else at the plate until the fifth, when Robert Stockhit a one-out single and was joined on base thanks to a walk to Domnit Bolivar. Garcia singled one out later and Stock came all the way around to score on a throwing error from Will Bergolla to record what would turn into the game-winning tally, putting the Cards on top briefly 2-0.

Lakeland battled back for a run in the bottom half of the inning off lefty reliever Dan Calhoun, who was just transferred back from Class-AA Springfield Tuesday. Calhoun allowed a one-out triple and a sac fly from Bergolla to cut the lead to 2-1 before being replaced in the sixth by Jesse Simpson (5-1, 2.25 ERA).

Simpson gave up two hits in a scoreless frame and turned it over to Jordan Swagerty in the seventh, who allowed two more hits but secured the 3-1 win with his fourth save of the season. Siegrist started the game with four scoreless innings, allowing four hits and three walks while striking out three after being activated from a near three-week stint on the disabled list earlier in the day.

Adam Melker added an insurance run in the seventh with a one-out single to finish off the 3-1 victory. Melker, Stock and Garcia had a pair of hits each to account for all of the Palm Beach offense.

Garcia finished the night 4-for-7 with a homer, triple, double and a single to complete the doubleheader-cycle.

Lakeland starter Mark Sorensen (0-2, 5.40 ERA) suffered the loss.

Arquimedes Nieto (1-2, 4.30 ERA) looks to follow up his near no-hitter with another solid start as the Cardinals begin a four-game home series against Trevor May (7-6, 3.54 ERA) and the Clearwater Threshers Friday night at Roger Dean Stadium.

For more information on the Palm Beach Cardinals, Class-A Advanced affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals, please call (561) 775-1818 or visit www.palmbeachcardinals.com. For tickets and more information regarding Roger Dean Stadium, please visit www.rogerdeanstadium.com.

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