Flying Tigers Beat Manatees in 17 Inning Marathon

Mitch Ghelfi
Mitch Ghelfi
It took 17 innings Wednesday for the Lakeland Flying Tigers to claim a 2-1 victory in the rubber game of a three-game series at Henley Field. It was quite a pitcher’s duel to start, as Bubby Derby and Jeff Thompson kept the offense to a minimum. Each starter was long gone before this one was decided.

Thompson allowing one hit through the first six innings, a Wendell Rijo single in the third. He finally ran into trouble with two outs in the seventh. Blake Allemand and Mitch Ghelfi singled, before Thompson walked David Denson to load the bases. Zac Reininger was called on out of the Lakeland bullpen and he was able to strike out Malik Collymore, to end the inning.

Thompson allowed three hits in 6.2 innings. He walked two and struck out four, throwing 96 pitches, 63 strikes.

On the other side, Derby allowed two hits through his first five innings. He gave up a single to A.J. Simcox in the first and a Wade Hinkle knock in the fifth. He didn’t allow another baserunner until Kivett doubled to start the eighth. After striking out Zac Shepherd, he walked Drew Longley. 

Anthony Pereira struck out and Derby was one out from getting out of the jam. Brown had other ideas. He drilled a single to center, scoring Kivett with the first run of the game.

That was the end of the day for Derby, who gave way to Jon Olczak. Olczak hit Ismael Salgado to load the bases, but got out of the inning when Simcox flied to right. That closed the book on Derby, after 7.2 well pitched innings. He allowed one run on four hits, walked one and struck out seven. He threw 93 pitches, 62 of those were strikes.

Santiago Garrido took over for Reininger in the top of the ninth, looking to nail down the victory. He looked well on his way, getting the first two outs of the inning. Allemand was the Manatees last hope and he kept things going with his third double of the season. Ghelfi followed with the first two-bagger at the Advanced-A level. That scored Allemand with the tying run. Garrido ended the inning, with a strike out of Denson.

The Manatees stranded two runners in the 11th inning, before Clint Terry took over for Olczak to start the bottom of the inning. They rallied again in the 12th, against reliever Gerson Moreno. Denson grounded out and Collymore struck out, before Jose Cuas doubled to right. Rijo walked, bringing Corey Ray to the dish, but Moreno got him to line out to first, ending the inning.

Terry worked in and out of trouble in the bottom of the 14th. He walked Salgado, who was sacrificed to second. After intentionally walking Kade Scivicque, Terry got Hinkle to ground out, moving the runners to second and third. Terry got the next batter to tap one in front of the plate, that Ghelfi fielded and threw to first, keeping the home team off the board.
Terry gave way to Brad Kuntz in the 16th inning, after pitching five innings of scoreless relief. He walked two and struck out two, but did not allow a hit and dropped his ERA to 1.97. Terry threw 73 pitches, 46 for strikes.

Brevard County had another chance to break the tie in the top of the 17th. Cuas drew a walk and went to second on a sac bunt by Rijo. Ray grounded back to the pitcher and Cuas went to third. He would get no further, as Fidel Pena flied out to right and ending the inning.

The Flying Tigers finally broke through in the bottom of the inning against Kuntz. Scivicque singled and Kuntz (3-4) came back to get the next two batters swinging. It took seven pitches, but Shepherd ripped one back through the middle and Scivicque came home with the winning run.

For more info: Brevard County @ Lakeland boxscore

Jairo Labourt (6-9) pitched the last four innings for Lakeland, picking up the win. Each team ended up with six hits, but maybe more notably, the top of the Manatees order, Ray, Pena and Rubio went a combined 0-for-21 on the day. Allemand and Ghelfi were the only Manatees with multi-hit days.

The road trip continues Thursday, as Brevard County travels to Dunedin, to take on the Blue Jays in a three-game series. Thursday’s first pitch is scheduled for 6:30, The Manatees have not named their starter, although it will likely be Kodi Medeiros, who only threw one inning on Saturday, thanks to a prolonged rain delay.

This article originally appeared on 27OutsBaseball.com on 8/10/16


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