Sports stats



Palm Beach Cardinals

Palm Beach Bounces Back for 9-3 Win

August 20, 2011 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Palm Beach Cardinals News Release


JUPITER, Fla. - Kyle Conley had a pair of RBI-doubles and Starlin Rodriguez hit his third homer of the season to lead the Palm Beach Cardinals (32-23, 61-63) to a 9-3 victory over the Jupiter Hammerheads (21-34, 53-72) Saturday night in game two of a three-game series at Roger Dean Stadium.

With the win and a rainout for Bradenton the Cardinals now trail the Marauders by 2.5 games in the FSL South division second-half season with 15 games remaining. Jupiter had snapped the Cards' seven-game winning streak with a 2-0 win Friday night.

Jupiter jumped out early with a run in the first inning off Cardinals' starter Kevin Siegrist, who struggled mightily to find his command in his second start back from the disabled list. The left-hander walked six, allowed three hits and three earned runs through just 1.2 innings and left with the bases loaded and two outs in the second.

Palm Beach had put up a three-spot in the second before Siegrist ran into trouble, however, beginning with a leadoff walk to Robert Stock and subsequent single from Rainel Rosario. Adam Melker then laid down a sacrifice bunt which resulted in a big three-base throwing error by Marlins rehabber Donnie Murphy at third, scoring two and leaving Melker standing at third with nobody out. Niko Vasquez finished the job with a sacrifice fly that gave the Cards a momentary 3-1 lead.

Jupiter scored twice in the second to tie it up at 3-3 thanks to three walks and a RBI-single from Sergio Pedroza, with the other tally coming home on a bases-loaded free pass to Murphy.

Siegrist was lifted with the bases loaded in favor of righty Seth Maness (1-0, 0.00 ERA), who recorded the final out of the frame to ultimately end the Jupiter scoring efforts for the night. Maness tossed 3.1 scoreless innings in his Palm Beach debut, allowing just one hit and striking out four to earn his first professional win. The 22-year-old was drafted in the 11th round of this year's Draft out of East Carolina University and went 0-1 with a 0.91 ERA in 10 games with Class-A Short-Season Batavia before being promoted Aug. 18.

The game remained knotted at 3-3 until Rodriguez met new Hammerheads' pitcher Graham Johnson (0-4, 7.96 ERA) with a towering homer to left on the first pitch of the fifth, ultimately proving the game-winner.

Palm Beach added to the lead in a big way one inning later with a four-run sixth off a pair of Jupiter relievers, including Johnson and A.J. Battisto. Ted Obregon and Greg Garcia knocked in a run apiece with singles and Conley delivered his first double of the night to drive home two runs for the Cards, who saw Xavier Scruggs' line drive snagged by a diving Rand Smith in center for an inning-ending double play to thwart any more offensive additions.

Conley rounded out the 9-3 final with his second run-scoring double of the evening in the eighth, made possible by the fourth error by Jupiter. Left-hander Dan Calhoun gave up just one hit through three scoreless innings and Chris Corrigan finished it off with a scoreless ninth to cap an impressive outing by the Cardinals 'pen.

Southpaw Tyler Lyons (7-3, 3.99 ERA) will be seeking his sixth straight victory tomorrow night in the series finale with the Hammerheads against fellow lefty Chad James (4-15, 3.81 ERA). First pitch is scheduled for 5:05 p.m. from 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 .

Check out the Palm Beach Cardinals Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Florida State League message board...

Florida State League Stories from August 20, 2011


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central