FSL1 Charlotte Stone Crabs

'Crabs Win Second Straight 3-1

Published on June 28, 2014 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Charlotte Stone Crabs News Release


JUPITER, FL - Just one night after snapping a 10-game losing streak with a 10-5 win against the Cardinals, the Stone Crabs found themselves in a dog fight against the Hammerheads on Saturday night. Six clean, shutout innings by starters Blake Snell and Jake Esch quickly wound towards a tumultuous seventh and eighth inning. Three `Crabs errors and a botched home run call nearly did them in, but a late rally in the eighth was enough to get by with a 3-1 win.

Perhaps the focus after getting the monkey off their backs was Snell, who was coming off three straight losses which dropped his record to 1-4. With a powerful fastball, the lefthander battled through the first five innings, surrendering just four singles and a pair of walks while striking out four. In his final inning in the sixth, a two-out single by Blake Barber led to a Jesus Solorzano chopper to second that was bobbled by Tommy Coyle. Ryan Goetz then ended the inning when he lifted a popup off of third for the final out.

The Stone Crabs opportunities against Esch were turned aside early. It started with two outs in the first when Patrick Leonard singled on a 2-0 pitch before stealing second base. A wild pitch advanced him to third, but Esch struck out Justin O'Conner looking for the third out. In the third, Coyle dropped a perfect bunt down on the grass at third base to lead things off. Esch raced in quickly, but his throw to first sailed up the right field line, and the speedy Coyle moved to second for the middle of the order. After two quick outs, Esch got some help from his defense when Matt Juengel made a leaping catch on O'Conner's rising liner out to left for the third out.

When Kevin Brandt entered for Snell with no score in the seventh, he got catcher Josh Adams to send a grounder to third. Jonathan Quionez booted it for an error, and his throw to first wasn't in time. Anthony Gomez' sacrifice bunt advanced the runner before Brandt tossed a wild pitch to move Adams to third. A walk to Justin Bohn put runners at the corners, but Brandt got a crucial second out when he picked off Bohn at first. Colin Moran's chopper up the first base line was then misplayed by Leonard for the third Stone Crabs error, and the Hammerheads capitalized to take a 1-0 lead.

Julian Ridings then led off the eighth against Jupiter reliever Colby Suggs with a hard single to put the tying run at first. Ridings had made a tremendous play to close out the bottom of the first when he threw out Moran at the plate after a single by Barber into center field. However, with Coyle batting, Ridings attempted to steal second but was thrown out in plenty of time to clear the bags. Coyle's infield single brought up Granden Goetzman, who rang a vicious line drive off the right field foul pole. But neither home plate umpire Blake Carnahan nor field umpire Joe George signaled home run, and Goetzman was lucky to leg out a game-tying triple. Once Jared Sandberg came out to argue the call and promptly get ejected, a walk to Leonard and a wild pitch allowed Goetzman to score the go-ahead run. Two batters later, Maxx Tissenbaum provided much needed insurance with a run scoring single to put the Stone Crabs ahead for good 3-1.

The series continues on Sunday afternoon when Austin Pruitt (3-4, 4.66 ERA) meets the Hammerheads Matt Milroy (0-1, 7.20 ERA). You can follow all the action by listening to the game on www.stonecrabsbaseball.com via TuneIn Radio, or tuning into 91.7 FM-WVIJ in the Port Charlotte area. The Stone Crabs Pregame Show starts at 12:45 PM on the Stone Crabs Radio Network!

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Florida State League Stories from June 28, 2014


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