Brevard County drops season opener in 10 innings

Brandon Woodruff

The Daytona Tortugas opened their season with a 5-4 walk-off win against the visiting Brevard County Manatees at Jackie Robinson Ballpark on Tuesday, sending 4,036 fans home happy on Thursday. 

The Manatees (0-1) had their chances early against MLB-rehabber Jon Moscot as they stranded two runners in each of the first two innings and left a runner at third in the third inning. Those blown chances would prove costly, as Daytona got on the board in the bottom of the third.

Jonathan Reynoso led off with a triple against Manatees’ starter Brandon Woodruff. The ball was misjudged in right field by Clint Coulter and Reynoso was off to the races. He would score immediately on an RBI ground out by Blake Trahan. Woodruff would come back to retire the next two batters and get out of the inning.

Johnny Davis
Moscot would find trouble again in the fourth, when Jose Cuas singled with one out and was sacrificed to second by Angel Ortega. Moscot was pulled after that play, after an apparent hand injury. He was originally scheduled to throw 75 pitches, but the injury ended his night prematurely. Jake Paulson took over and promptly threw a wild pitch, moving Cuas to third. Brandon Diaz followed with a walk and swiped second, putting runners at second and third.

Johnny Davis, who was playing his first game since suffering an ACL injury on April 18 of last year,
came to the plate with a chance to put the Manatees ahead, but struck out to end the inning. The frustration of the missed opportunities for the Manatees would finally subside in the sixth inning, as they would get on the board for the first time.

George Iskenderian would reach on an error to start the frame. Heads-up base running allowed him to get to second. He would move to third on a grounder by Dustin Houle. Cuas would follow with a sharp grounder to short, which eluded Trahan and allowed Iskenderian to scamper home with the tying run. Cuas moved to second on a ground out by Ortega. Diaz stepped up and smacked a single to Brian O'Grady in left. He came up firing and was able to cut down Cuas at the plate, ending the inning.

Woodruff settled down nicely after giving up the run in the third. He would end up going six innings, giving up four hits and one earned run. He walked two and struck out three. The Manatees offense rewarded him for his efforts, tallying three runs in the seventh inning.  The highlight was a Dustin DeMuth two-run homer to right, against Daytona reliever Brennan Bernardino who came in to start the inning. Following an Iskenderian single, Alex Powers was called on from the Tortugas bullpen. 
Dustin DeMuth
Houle greeted him with a double, plating Iskenderian and giving the visitors a 4-1 lead.
Woodruff would give way to Kaleb Earls on the mound in the bottom of the seventh. Avain Rachal would not waste any time as he sent a ball over the centerfield wall, cutting the Manatees lead in half, 4-2. 

Earls would escape further damage in the inning but in the eighth, the wheels came off for the
Brevard hurler. Trahan reached on an Ortega error to start things. O'Grady drove him in with a triple to center, making it a one run contest. O’Grady would score on a wild pitch, tying things at four.

Aristides Aquino followed with a double and Earls would then hit Angelo Gumbs with a pitch. Brevard County Manager Joe Ayrault had seen enough at that point, ending Earls night after an inning plus four batters. Jon Olczak was called on to stop the bleeding and he did just that. 

After Taylor Sparks was out on a sac bunt, Olczak would strike out the next two batters, to end the inning. Jacob Ehret was called on to pitch the ninth for Daytona and made quick work of the Manatees. In the 10th, Brevard County proved they weren’t going down without a fight. Houle drew a walk to start the inning and was lifted for pinch runner Omar Garcia, who quickly swiped second. The throw from catcher Chad Tromp was wide and Garcia hurried to third. Unfortunately, he would be thrown out at the plate later in the inning, killing the rally.

Daytona (1-0) would face Manatees’ reliever Kender Villegas in the bottom of the inning and after he struck out the first two hitters, it looked like the 11th inning was a certainty. The Tortugas had other plans.  Gumbs singled and went to second on a wild pitch. After Taylor Sparks walked, Rachal walked it off, with a lined single to left. With that, the Tortugas picked up a hard fought victory.


Brevard County will look to rebound when they open their home season Friday against Daytona at 6:35 p.m. Tyler Mahle gets the start for Daytona, while the Manatees have yet to name a starter.

Story originally appeared on the now defunct Examiner.com on 4/7/16

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