Josephina, Jenista Steer Florida's Doubleheader Sweep of St. Lucie
May 16, 2019 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Florida Fire Frogs News Release
SSIMMEE, FL: The Florida Fire Frogs kept at it all night long, not letting the St. Lucie Mets run away and hide while erasing deficits in both ends of a twin bill victory, 6-5 and 5-4, on Wednesday at Osceola County Stadium.
The Fire Frogs have now won four of their last five games heading into Thursday's double dip with the Mets.
Game 1: An uncharacteristically tough fourth inning for RHP Nolan Kingham put Florida behind 5-0. Jacob Zanon, Matt Winaker, and Blake Tiberi all sandwiched RBI singles around a two-run double from Manny Rodriguez.
Kingham surrendered seven hits and the five runs with three K's over four frames on the mound.
The rally began in the fifth with a two-run single from William Contreras, scoring Brett Langhorne and Riley Unroe to trim the Mets advantage to 5-2.
Florida forced St. Lucie starter RHP Dedniel Nunez in that stanza. He gave up two runs, four walks, and three hits while striking out seven Fire Frogs in just above four innings pitched.
Unroe slammed a run-scoring single in the sixth and Riley Delgado followed with an RBI groundout to close Florida to within 5-4.
Unroe had hits in both games, extending his team-best on-base streak to 22 games in the process.
A one-out single in the bottom of the seventh from Jefrey Ramos paved the way for Drew Lugbauer to ground one fair inside the third base line off LHP Blake Taylor to tie it. This was Taylor's first blown save of the season.
Kevin Josephina's knock in the ninth brought placed runner Greyson Jenista across for the winning run. It was his first of what would be a 3-RBI evening.
RHP Troy Bacon and RHP Sean McLaughlin (1-1) combined to allow just two hits and two walks with six punchouts in five stanzas of work out of the pen.
Game 2: An inning after Blake Tiberi broke St. Lucie onto the scoreboard first, Florida responded with an RBI knock from Josephina and a run-scoring groundout from Langhorne to propel them into the lead, 2-1.
The Mets tied it in the top half of the fifth, but then a three-run bottom half gave Florida the lead for good. Josephina's RBI double and Jenista's clutch two-run triple into the right-field corner gave the home team a three-run lead.
RBI groundouts from Matt Winaker and Cody Bohanek brought the Mets to within 5-4, but that was the closest they would get.
RHP Matt Withrow gave up an earned run and three hits in 3 and 1/3's innings in his first start of the year. RHP Lukas Young (1-0) walked three and allowed three runs but picked up the win in his Advanced-A debut. RHP Kurt Hoekstra's return to Kissimmee was a good one, he picked up the save and escaped a seventh-inning jam.
RHP Kyle Wilson (2-4) of St. Lucie permitted four runs while accepting defeat to Florida for the second time this season. RHP Joseph Shaw scattered three hits and two walks over two innings.
NEXT UP: The Fire Frogs will play another doubleheader against the Mets on Thursday morning at 10:30 am at the Pond. LHP Philip Pfeifer (0-1, 2.16) gets the Education Day start in game one opposite RHP Travis Wilson (3-2, 2.48). Both teams will announce their game two starters after the conclusion of game one.
Purchase your tickets now: https://www.milb.com/florida/tickets/single-game-tickets.
Florida State League Stories from May 16, 2019
- Milone's Mash Tames Tortugas, 3-1 - Daytona Tortugas
- Stone Crabs Drop Daytona 3-1 to Earn Split - Charlotte Stone Crabs
- Mets and Fire Frogs Flip Victories, 3-2 and 2-1 - Florida Fire Frogs
- Stone Crabs Game Notes - Thu, May 16 vs Daytona - Charlotte Stone Crabs
- Mets Rally Late to Split Doubleheader at Florida - St. Lucie Mets
- Josephina, Jenista Steer Florida's Doubleheader Sweep of St. Lucie - Florida Fire Frogs
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