FSL1 Charlotte Stone Crabs

Stone Crabs Win 5 Hour and 10 Minute Marathon 5-3

Published on May 24, 2014 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Charlotte Stone Crabs News Release


LAKELAND, FL (May 23, 2014) - There were barking dogs and tired patrons. Actually, everyone was tired. Because when Ernie Banks said, `Let's play two", he meant a doubleheader. You know, two games in one day. The Stone Crabs and Tigers played two on Friday night at Joker Marchant Stadium, but it was one very long game that crawled into Saturday morning. After 19 innings and more than five hours, the Stone Crabs rode the right arm of Jake DePew and Justin O'Conner's game-winning double to a 5-3 victory in the most memorable game of the year thus far.

Strong starts by Austin Pruitt and Kevin Eichhorn were mere afterthoughts once this one went extras. Scoreless through the fifth, the Tigers got a leadoff double by cleanup hitter Jeff McVaney before another double by Lance Durham made it 1-0. Connor Harrell's RBI single scored Durham for a 2-0 lead, and Pruitt would come out of the game after striking out Jared Reeves for the first out. From the bullpen came lefthander Jose Molina, who fanned Jeff Holm for the second out. Tyler Hanover, Thursday night's savior, sent a flyball to right that Marty Gantt dropped, allowing Harrell to race around from first for the third run of the inning.

The Stone Crabs started a two out rally in the seventh against Eichhorn following a five pitch walk to Josh Sale. A double by Justin O'Conner put two runners in scoring position for Maxx Tissenbaum, who plated up both runners with a single off Tigers reliever Jade Todd to cut the deficit to 3-2. Hector Guevara later opened the eighth with a double before a groundout to short by Gantt. Andrew Toles reached on an infield single and two batters later, it was Patrick Leonard who tied the game at three with a hard single into left field. The night was just beginning.

Marcus Jensen was one of the feel good stories of the night after a recent downturn out of the Stone Crabs bullpen. The righthander surrendered a one out double in the ninth to Hanover before retiring the next two hitters to send the game to extras. Willie Gabay's night started in the 12th inning with a leadoff double to Tigers catcher Drew Longley. Chad Wright's groundout to second moved the winning run to third base and Curt Powell's infield single complicated matters because it brought up the heart of the order. With the infield drawn in, McVaney grounded out to short before Durham sent a roller back to Gabay for the final out.

The Tigers bullpen trio of Alex Burgos, Ryan Longstreth, and Tyler Clark only gave up a pair of singles to the Stone Crabs from innings 9 through 19. A one out single by Tommy Coyle and a walk by Leonard preceded a walk to Josh Sale, who flew out to deep left center for the second out. In the biggest moment of the night, O'Conner came through with his second double to score the runners and give the Stone Crabs their only lead at 5-3.

Amazingly enough, the best storyline amidst all the craziness was Jake DePew, the Stone Crabs catcher who came out of the bullpen where he was warming up relievers to pitch for the first time in his career. With two outs in the 16th, DePew surrendered a double to Wright before getting second baseman Curt Powell to ground out to short to end the inning. The Tigers pressured DePew the whole time with a pair of two out singles in both the 17th and 18th, but armed with a fastball and changeup that weren't that much different in speed, he got out of both innings. The trend continued one final time in the bottom of the 19th, and with the winning run at the plate, Hanover grounded out to give DePew and the Stone Crabs a memorable victory they'll never forget.

NOTES: DePew (1-0) allowed seven hits in 3.1 IP, but the Tigers could not push the winning run home and left 20 runners on base despite outhitting the Stone Crabs 19-11Lakeland finished 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position in the first Florida State League game to last 19 innings this seasonthe 5 hour and 10 minute game was the second longest one played this yearthe Yankees 7-6, 18-inning victory against the Cardinals on May 16 took 5 hours and 23 minutesthe Stone Crabs improved to 5-0 in extra innings and are 6-5 against the North DivisionJensen threw a career-high five innings and only allowed two hits and a walk, while striking out fourBen Griset threw three scoreless innings out of the bullpen and only allowed one hit while fanning threeBurgos tossed four perfect innings out of the Tigers bullpen and struck out eight battersthe Stone Crabs struck out a season-high 19 times in the gameCoyle's two out single in the 13th started a stretch of 17 consecutive Stone Crabs who were retired in order until his one out single in the 19th.

The Stone Crabs return home on Saturday night at 6:00 PM for the start of a brief home-and-home series with the Bradenton Marauders. The first 500 fans in attendance at Charlotte Sports Park will receive a free t-shirt courtesy of Truly Nolen. There are still great seats available, so visit www.stonecrabsbaseball.com or call 941-206-HITS (4487) to order your tickets now!

Check out the Charlotte Stone Crabs Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Florida State League Stories from May 24, 2014


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