Threshers Rally for 5-4 Win
Published on June 21, 2014 under Florida State League (FSL1)
Clearwater Threshers News Release
CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The Clearwater Threshers plated a pair of runs with two out in the seventh inning to jump ahead of Lakeland 5-4, and held on for the victory over the Flying Tigers on Saturday night at Bright House Field.
Brandon Short finished 3-for-3 with a single, double, and triple, knocking in two runs. The top four batters in the Threshers order combined to go 8-for-14 in the victory.
Clearwater (2-1) faced a 5-4 deficit heading to the bottom of the seventh. After a strikeout and ground out started the inning, J.P. Crawford chopped a double out of the reach of third baseman Tyler Hanover. Ahead in the count 2-0, KC Serna then delivered a single up the middle to plate Crawford and tie the game up at four.
Short gave the Threshers the lead two pitches later when he sent a lofting fly ball to the right field corner and motored in to third with a triple, as Serna crossed the plate with the go-ahead run.
Lino Martinez set down all six men he faced in the eighth and ninth innings to lock down his third save of the season.
It was Lakeland (1-2) who jumped out to a 3-0 advantage with a two-out rally in the first inning. A Lance Durham RBI double and Connor Harrell two-run homer gave the Flying Tigers the lead against starter Colin Kleven.
Clearwater began to scrape away in the bottom half. Roman Quinn worked a walk to lead off, and with one out an errant pickoff move by starter Jake Thompson permitted Quinn to advance to second. Short then came through with his first hit of the game, a single to center to cut the Lakeland lead to 3-1.
Quinn would come around to score the Threshers second run as well in the third inning. With Quinn running on a 3-1 pitch, Crawford earned his first hit in a Threshers uniform by pulling a single through the right side. Serna followed with a base knock to left to make it a 3-2 game.
Clearwater would tie it in the sixth. Short led off with a double to left, and one out later Harold Martinez smacked a two-base hit of his own to plate Short with the tying run.
Lakeland regained the advantage with a run off Dan Child (1-1) in the seventh, but Clearwater answered with two of its own in the bottom half to take its first lead of the game, 5-4, and would go on to win by that final.
The Threshers and Flying Tigers continue the three-game set on Sunday at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. The game can be heard live on the Threshers broadcast network beginning at 12:45 p.m.
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