FSL1 Charlotte Stone Crabs

Hammerheads Chomp 'Crabs 8-4

Published on July 9, 2014 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Charlotte Stone Crabs News Release


JUPITER, FL (July 9, 2014) - After dominating most of the season series, the Stone Crabs finally crashed back down to Earth in Wednesday afternoon's 8-4 loss to the Hammerheads. Jupiter's six-game losing streak went away as the offense scored in seven of the nine innings, and the bullpen held firm the rest of the way with four scoreless frames out of the bullpen before a crowd of 1,304 at Charlotte Sports Park. With a split in the first two games of the series, Thursday night's winner will decide who takes it. Four runs were more than plenty for Charlotte in the quick opener on Tuesday, but only half as sufficient in the matinee.

A 50-minute rain delay seemed to affect Jordan Harrison's timing, because the lefthander found himself in trouble with two walks in an erratic first. Matt Juengel's two-out RBI single merely stirred the storm, and the Hammerheads had a 1-0 lead five batters in. Cody Keefer then led off the second with his first triple of the season before scoring two batters later on Ryan Goetz' single. In the third, Viosergy Rosa continued his powerful season against the Stone Crabs with a long solo shot to right to make it 3-0.

Harrison opened the fourth by walking Keefer on five pitches before whiffing Josh Adams for the first out. Singles by Goetz and Justin Bohn loaded the bases for shortstop Anthony Gomez, who lifted a sacrifice fly out to center to give the Hammerheads a 4-0 lead. Another walk to Colin Moran proved to be the end for Harrison (0-1), but Marcus Jensen calmly got Rosa to ground out with the bases left loaded to retire the side.

Jupiter made it 6-0 in the fifth following Keefer's scoring flyball to center and another single by Goetz. However, the Stone Crabs were resilient and finally gained some traction against Austin Brice in the bottom of the inning. Four scoreless innings were quickly neglected once Brice's first walk came against Marty Gantt to lead things off. A wild pitch advanced him to second before Jonathan Quionez came through with his third run batted in of the series with a single to make it 6-1. Luke Bailey's opposite field double to right center tacked on a run to make it 6-2 and Julian Ridings single put runners at the corners with nobody out. Yunel Escobar's fielder's choice grounder to short forced out Ridings, but Gomez' throw sailed into the first base dugout and Bailey scored to cut the deficit in half. Brice's balk got Escobar to third, and he'd soon score on Tommy Coyle's groundout to first which got the `Crabs close at 6-4.

The rest of the day belonged to Jupiter's bullpen trio of Blake Logan, Brian Ellington, and Reid Redman, who combined for four shutout innings. The Stone Crabs only other hits during that stretch were singles by Bailey in the seventh and Goeddel in the eighth. Goeddel's base hit moved Patrick Leonard to third following a hit by pitch, but Goetzman popped out to first for the second. With the tying run still at the plate in the form of Gantt, Goeddel tried stealing second but was thrown out by Adams in a very close play at the bag. With the opportunity extinguished and the inning over, Jared Sandberg argued with field umpire Nate Tomlinson, who ejected him leading into the ninth.

The series wraps up on Thursday night at 6:30 PM when Blake Snell (1-5, 5.76 ERA) takes the hill against the Hammerheads Scott Lyman (3-8, 3.03 ERA). There are plenty of great seats still available, so please 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 9, 2014


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