FSL1 Palm Beach Cardinals

Petree Shines in FSL Debut

Published on May 6, 2014 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Palm Beach Cardinals News Release


Jupiter, FL - Nick Petree couldn't have asked for a much better Florida State League debut. The 23-year-old turned in a seven inning gem for the Palm Beach Cardinals in a 7-3 victory over the Jupiter Hammerheads on Tuesday night at Roger Dean Stadium. The Birds took two of three games in the series and have won five of their last six games overall.

Petree (1-0) surrendered just one run in seven tidy frames, scattered six hits, walked one and struck out six in his first start since coming to Palm Beach from Low-A Peoria. He avoided pressure for most of the night. His only blemish was a two-out RBI single off the bat of Jupiter designated hitter Matt Juengel in the third inning.

Petree exited the game with a 7-1 lead and earned his first Class-A Advanced victory when Robert Stock and Mitch Harris finished off the game out of the bullpen.

The Cardinals (15-17) struck first for the third straight game in the series. Alex Mejia, Ildemaro Vargas, Charlie Tilson, and Starlin Rodriguez strung four straight singles together to begin the third inning. Mejia touched home on a wild pitch, Rodriguez drove in Vargas, and Tilson scored on a double play ball to make it 3-0.

The Hammerheads (13-19) got on the board with a run in the bottom half but the Cardinals regained the three-run advantage in the fourth. Anthony Garcia hit a double to the gap in right-center field and made the round-trip home on a Mejia RBI single - his second hit of the game.

David Washington led off the sixth inning with a walk and moved to third on a well executed hit and run play with Breyvic Valera. Garcia's second double of the night drove in Washington, Mejia's second RBI of the evening came in the form of a groundout to short, and Ildemaro Vargas singled through the left side to bring in the Cardinals' seventh run of the game.

Juengel tripled in a run and scored in the eighth inning off Stock to cut the Palm Beach lead to 7-3, but Harris tossed a perfect ninth to preserve the victory and the series win for the Cardinals.

Josh Hodges (0-4) allowed seven runs on nine hits over five innings in the start and took the loss for Jupiter.

Valera went 1-for-4 with a run on the night to extend his hitting streak to eight games. He is batting .417 (15-for-36) with 11 runs and five RBI over the stretch.

The Cardinals will travel to Port St. Lucie on Wednesday night to start a four-game series with the Mets. RH Thomas Lee (2-2, 4.26) will start for Palm Beach against RH Michael Fulmer (1-1, 6.00) for St. Lucie. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.

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Florida State League Stories from May 6, 2014


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