Fourth of July Crowd Gets Glimpse of Manatees Future

Cody Ponce

The Brevard County Manatees celebrated the Fourth of July with a 3-0 win over the visiting Dunedin Blue Jays at Space Coast Stadium. The sold out crowd of 5,760 got to see 2015 second round pick Cody Ponce throw five shutout innings and outfielder Corey Ray, drafted No. 5 overall in this years’ draft, drive in the winning run in his professional baseball debut.

Ponce got the start and had his most impressive outing of the season, throwing five innings and giving up only two hits. Unfortunately, he left in a scoreless game and did not qualify for the victory. Ponce ended the night with five strikeouts. He one in each of the first three innings and struck out two more in his fifth and final inning of work. “It was an outstanding outing, worked ahead in the count and put hitters away when he needed to,” said Manatees manager Joe Ayrault. It was a solid showing.”

Adding to the stellar night for Ponce was the fact that he did not walk a batter and threw 37 of his 61 pitches for strikes. Even when Ayrault decided to pull him, he looked to have a lot left in the tank, which means he is building his arm strength back up after dealing with the arm issues in Spring Training that got his season off to a late start.

Ponce allowed a single to Dickie Joe Thon in the second inning and Thon decided to try to stretch it into a double, despite the ball going to center fielder Omar Garcia, who was charging the ball anyway. Garcia came up throwing and Thon was out by plenty. The only other hit he allowed was a single in the fifth to Mike Reeves, after he struck out the previous two batters.

Dunedin starter Francisco Rios was equally impressive in his five innings of work, giving up five hits, striking out five and walking none. He threw 72 pitches, 46 for strikes, but like Ponce, left with a no-decision.

Reliever Angel Ventura followed Ponce and pitched lights out. He walked a batter in the sixth and got through the seventh clean, before the Manatees offense got things going in the bottom of the frame. George Iskenderian singled and after Dustin Houle struck out, Jose Cuas and Omar Garcia drew back-to-back walks, loading the bases. That brought Ray to the plate for his fourth at bat of the night.

Corey Ray Debut

Ray had flied out, struck out and hit into a Fielders’ choice in his three previous plate appearances. This time, he got a pitch to hit and drove it to center field, deep enough for Iskenderian to score and Cuas to move to third. With that, the Manatees had a 1-0 lead.

“I hit a few balls hard today, they were just right at people,” said Ray. “I’m just wanting to put a good swing on the ball and see what I can do to hopefully give my team the lead there and it worked out.”

“To see Corey Ray make his debut and drive in our first run was exciting,” said Ayrault. “He’s an exciting player.”

Blake Allemand followed Ray and he dunked one into left field, scoring two and giving the Manatees a 3-0 lead. “It was huge to get those insurance runs,” said Ayrault. “He’s been playing good and had a good ballgame. He was our Player of the Game yesterday, so it was nice to see him come through with the big hit today.”

Ventura (3-3) took it from there, allowing his only hit if the night in the top of the ninth, a single to Richard Urena. He struck out four and walked one, throwing 51 pitches, 34 for strikes. “Ventura was big for us tonight,” said Ayrault. “Our pitchers both threw the ball well tonight.”

For more info: Dunedin @ Brevard County boxscore

The Manatees (3-8, 26-53) will look for their third consecutive victory on Tuesday, when they send Jon Perrin to the mound. Dunedin (8-4, 41-40) will counter with Justin Shafer. First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m. 

This article originally appeared on 27OutsBaseball.com on 7/4/16