Medeiros Masterful in 'Tees Debut

Kodi Medeiros

Kodi Medeiros made his first start for the Brevard County Manatees on Saturday at Jackie Robinson Ballpark in Daytona. He was helped by a 15-hit outburst by the Brevard County offense and they combined to lead the ‘Tees to a 9-6 win, giving Brevard County their first win of the season.

Medeiros was in control for much of his outing, has throwing 34 pitches through three innings, 23 of those for strikes. If he was nervous, it didn’t show in his performance. He was in control and left the Tortugas searching for answers, through four shutout innings.

Meanwhile, the Manatees offense got an early jump against ‘Tugas starter Keury Mella, scoring twice in the top of the first. Angel Ortega and Dustin DeMuth hit back-to-back singles with one out. After a Clint Coulter strikeout, George Iskenderian poked an RBI single to left. DeMuth went to third on the play and that was key, because he would score on a Dustin Houle single, giving the visitors a 2-0 lead. When all was said and done, Mella threw 27 pitches in the opening frame and faced eight batters.

The struggles continued for Mella (0-1) in the second inning. After getting Brandon Diaz on strikes, Johnny Davis doubled and Angel Ortega followed with a hit, putting runners at first and third. DeMuth came through with a sac fly and put the visitors up, 3-0. They added one more run in the third on a Houle home run over the left field wall, extending the lead to 4-0. 

Dustin Houle

Medeiros (1-0) continued to cruise, striking out three in a row with the last two outs in the fourth inning and the first two outs in the fifth. He would then get Garrett Boulware to pop out, before running into a bit of trouble.  Ty Washington walked and Jonathan Reynoso singled Blake Trahan’s single scored Washington, making it a 4-1 game.

It looked as if Medeiros would avoid further damage when he got Brian O'Grady to pop up behind second. Blake Allemand was backing up on the ball and seemed to struggle with it. Coulter couldn’t make it in from right field and the ball dropped. It was ruled a hit, allowing two runs to score and closing the gap to 4-3. 

Aristides Aquino drew a walk, before Medeiros ended the inning with a strikeout of Angelo Gumbs. That would be the final inning of the night for the Manatees’ hurler. He went five innings, allowing three runs on five hits. He walked three and struck out seven. Of the 82 pitches he threw, 52 were strikes.

Brevard County (1-2) would get two runs back in the top of the sixth, against Daytona reliever Ismael Guillon. DeMuth worked a one out walk and went to third on an Iskenderian double. With that, Guillon’s night was done. He was replaced by Alex Powers. Houle was first to greet him and he quickly worked the count to 3-0. Houle got the green light and ripped a single to left, plating two and upping the Manatees lead to 6-3.

The Manatees weren’t done, as they added on in the seventh. Jose Cuas and Diaz started the inning with singles, putting runners at the corners. With Davis at the plate, Diaz stole second. He wasn’t there long, as Davis laced a ball into left, scoring both runners ahead of him. Davis scored when Taylor Sparks threw the ball away and just like that, it was 9-3.

Angel Ortega

Daytona didn’t go down without a fight, as they put together a ninth inning rally. Kaleb Earls, who struggled in the opening night game between these two teams on Thursday, was called on to close the door and he was unable to do it. He gave up one hit but walked three and allowed three runs in 0.2 innings of work. With the score now 9-6, 

Manatees manager Joe Ayrault brought in Tyler Spurlin. He was able to get Aquino to hit a fly ball to Coulter in right, closing the book on his first save of the season and getting the Manatees into the win column.

Ortega and Houle led the Manatees offense with three hits each. Houle knocked in four runs. Davis, Iskenderian, Cuas and Diaz all had two hits, while DeMuth had one. The only starter without a hit was Coulter, who was 0-for-4 with three strikeouts.

For More info: Brevard County @ Daytona boxscore

The final game of this four-game series will take place at Space Coast Stadium on Sunday. The probable starter for Brevard County is right-hander Eric Hanhold, who spent last season in Low-A Wisconsin. Daytona will counter with fellow righty, Wyatt Strahan. First pitch is set for 5:05 p.m. 

Story originally appeared on the now defunct Examiner.com on 4/9/16