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
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