Brevard County Tees Off on Dunedin


Elvis Rubio
Elvis Rubio
The Brevard County Manatees celebrated Education Day on Tuesday, by taking the Dunedin Blue Jays to school. Brandon Woodruff pitched seven innings of shutout baseball and got home runs from Clint Coulter, Gregory McCall and newcomer Elvis Rubio, in a 7-2 victory in front of 2,353 fans at Space Coast Stadium. It was the ‘Tees third straight win.

“The guys swung the bats well and we took advantage of the wind blowing out today,” said Manatees manager Joe Ayrault. “Three homers on the day, a nice debut by Mr. Rubio and it was an all-around good day for us. Guys played solid defense and a dominating performance today by Woodruff, he was outstanding.”

Woodruff (2-1) was on his game from the start, with at least one strikeout in the first three innings. He did not strike anybody out in the fourth or fifth, but came back with two in the sixth and one in the seventh, to the last batter he faced, Mike Reeves. When all was said and done, Woodruff allowed four hits in his seven innings of work. He did not walk a batter and struck out seven. Of the 89 pitches he threw, 64 were strikes. 

“Over-powering stuff today,” said Ayrault of his starter. “He utilized his breaking ball and had a plus-fastball today, he was dominating.”
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the fourth when Clint Coulter led off the inning and took Dunedin starter Kyle Westwood deep over the left field wall on the second pitch of the at bat. 

Clint Coulter
Clint Coulter
The home run was Coulter’s second of the season and measured 424 ft. The exit velocity off the bat came in a 112 MPH. For Coulter, the home runs come just days apart. His first of the year was Saturday at Tampa.

Ayrault said Coulter has not changed his approach recently, so it looks like he might just be warming up. “It’s just a matter of him getting comfortable, getting hot and locking it in,” said Ayrault of Coulter. “Getting a good pitch to hit and driving it, taking advantage.”

One out later, an automatic strike was given to Dustin DeMuth, because the umpire ruled he violated the pace of game rules. DeMuth got two strikes on him in the at bat, before he laced a double into the left field corner. He would later score on Fidel Pena’s RBI single, giving the Manatees a 2-0 lead.

Brevard County (8-18) put the game away in the bottom of the seventh and ended Westwood’s day. Fidel Pena led things off with a single and came home on McCall’s round-tripper, making it a 4-0 ballgame. Jose Cuas followed with a single, bringing Rubio to the plate. He promptly jacked one out to the familiar spot in left field, making it a 6-0. 

“He hit some balls hard today and it was a good debut for him,” Ayrault said of Rubio. “He was fun to watch.”

Jon Olczak pitched the final two innings of the game, giving up a double to Dickie Thon to lead off
Jon Olczak
Jon Olczak
the eighth. Thon stole third and eventually scored on a Derrick Loveless single. Olczak ended up striking out the side in the inning, despite giving up another single to Richard Urena.
The Manatees tacked on one more in the eighth on another Pena RBI single. Dunedin’s final run came in the ninth when Mike Reeves plated Jason Leblebijian with a single.

For more info: Dunedin @ Brevard County boxscore

The Manatees have now won five of their last six games and are headed in the right direction, after a very bleak beginning to the season. “Every day’s a new day,” said Ayrault. “We don’t think about being in a hole, we try to work hard and get better every day. We try not to look in the past, we look to the future.” If the team continues to play as they have of late, that future could look a lot brighter than it did even 10 days ago, especially when you consider the split season in the Florida State League.

The Manatees had double-digits in the hit column again Tuesday, with 11. Pena went 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Coulter went 2-for-4 with a home run and Cuas went 2-for-4 with a run scored.

The series concludes Wednesday with a 6:35 p.m. first pitch at Space Coast Stadium. Kodi Medeiros (2-3, 8.71 ERA) will toe the rubber for the Manatees. He will be opposed by Conner Greene (1-2, 3.51 ERA).

This article originally appeared on the now defunct Examiner.com on 5/3/16

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