Six Runs Not Enough for Marlins in Fourth Straight Loss

May 30, 2014 - Coastal Plain League (Coastal Plain)
Morehead City Marlins News Release


MOREHEAD CITY, N.C.- The Marlins broke out for six runs on 11 hits on Friday evening, but it was not enough to overtake the Peninsula Pilots and their potent offense as the Marlins dropped their fourth straight, this one by a score of 7-6.

Blake Graham, playing in his first game for the Marlins, went 3-for-5 with a double and three runs scored from the leadoff spot.

"The numbers speak for themselves," said Marlins head coach Sam Carel. "The guy is going to come out and really promote the mentality we want with this pressure offense, and he did a good job."

Tyler Burden also had a solid night, driving in two runs with a line drive single, while Quincy Nieporte collected three hits in a game that featured almost twice as many Marlins' hits as the last two games combined. They also attempted a couple stolen bases and had some key sacrifice bunts.

"We wanted to implement more of the offense today - running around, laying some bunts down, and the guys executed very well,"Carel said. "We were very aggressive at the plate and we were able to run around. That's our offense. We want to be able to run around and play some small ball."

"We hit the ball extremely well, added right-fielder Matt Simmons, who went 2-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch. "I feel like something finally clicked for us offensively where we started seeing the ball longer and everyone was putting their foot down earlier so we started to hit the ball well. We looked a lot more confident than we have."

But, for the Marlins, confidence was not enough to overpower the surging Pilots, who have won three of their first four games. Peninsula bookended their night with a strong start and a strong finish, coming from behind in the eighth to score the tying and go-ahead runs off of Daniel Lewis.

The Pilots set the tone early on. Marlins' pitcher Whitman Barnes walked the leadoff man Andres Nelo, then issued a one-out walk to Garrett Brooks. That brought right-fielder Kyle Johnson to the plate. Johnson tore into a pitch middle-in and drove a towering home run over the left-field wall to stake the Pilots to a quick 3-0 lead.

"I think he calmed down after the home run was hit," Carel said. "You could see after it was hit he caught his breath. He stuck with the fastball to long there and after that he did a really god job to mix it up."

Barnes did not allow another run in his 2.2 innings of work, and Jordan Knutson worked a strong 3.2 innings, allowing just a run on a hit. But Peninsula managed to work its way back into the game and take the lead back after runners from a one out walk followed by a double were both able to come around to score because of a wild pitch and a throwing error from catcher Manny Pazos. If it were not for those two miscues, it may have been a different ending.

"We played well, you take [away] one bad play, and we win the ballgame," Simmons said. "Things like that are going to happen. That was a good team too. We made one mistake and we were still in the ballgame, so that is something to build off of."

Though the team lost its fourth consecutive game to begin the 2014 season, Carel is pleased with the strides made in today's game.

"It's a positive group, no question," Carel said.."They came out today, got to the park at about 1:30 and they've been working hard. Very positive group. It's frustrating to lose a game like that. When you see guys that have been working that hard you'd like to see some positive results."

The marlins will look for those positive results beginning tomorrow evening when they travel to Wilmington to take on the Sharks. First pitch is set for 7:05 p.m.



Coastal Plain League Stories from May 30, 2014


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