Hanhold Earns First win, Shuts Out Daytona
The Brevard County Manatees picked up their 10th
win of the season on Thursday, taking the final game of a four game series
against the homestanding Daytona Tortugas by the score of 2-0 at Jackie
Robinson Ballpark.
The team win is obviously a good thing for the Manatees, but
even more special was the fact that Manatees’ starter Eric Hanhold earned his
first professional win, in his 18th game. 15 of those games were as
a starter. Hanhold went 0-1 in rookie ball last season and 0-4 at low-A
Wisconsin. He came into Tuesday’s game, having lost four straight with the
Manatees. That 0-4 record was a bit misleading, as Hanhold has pitched well for
Brevard County overall, but ran into some tough luck.
He changed all that on Thursday, holding the Tortugas to
four hits in five innings of scoreless baseball. Not an easy feat, considering
the Tortugas pounded out 14 hits and scored nine runs just 24 hours earlier.
Brevard County (10-23) gave Hanhold the only run he would
need in the top of the first inning, against Daytona starter Seth Varner.
Johnny Davis led off with a walk, extending his consecutive on-base streak to
18 games. Angel Ortega followed with a single, which gave him a seven game
hitting streak. After Dustin DeMuth grounded into a double play, the
league-leading 30th for the Manatees, George Iskenderian picked him
up with an RBI double, scoring Davis.
Hanhold (1-4) allowed two hits in the bottom of the first,
one to Blake Trahan, extending his on-base streak to 18 games, mirroring that
of Davis. He came back to strike out Brian O’Grady, ending the threat. After
giving up two more hits in the top of the second, Hanhold was on cruise
control. He allowed a walk in the third, but went on to retire six in a row, before
ending his night. He struck out four and walked one in his five innings,
throwing 82 pitches, 54 for strikes.
The Manatees scored again in the top of the sixth against
Daytona reliever Nick Howard, who struggled with his control. Iskenderian
singled on a ball that Howard fielded going toward third. The throw to first
was wide and got stuck in the tarp, allowing Iskenderian to go to second. Fidel
Pena’s ground out moved Iskenderian to third. One out later, Howard uncorked a
wild pitch and Iskenderian scored, making it 2-0.
Elvis Rubio was hit by a pitch, ending the night for Howard,
after 2/3rds of an inning. Alex Powers came in and Rubio was caught stealing
second to end the Manatees sixth. Powers threw 1.1 innings of scoreless relief,
striking out one. El'Hajj Muhammad followed, giving up a hit and striking out
one in his inning of work. Jacob Ehret pitched the ninth for the home nine.
On the other side, Clint Terry took over for Hanhold in the
sixth and threw three strong innings. He did not allow a hit, walking two and
striking out two. Jon Olczak took the ninth and retired the side in order
picking up his second save for the Manatees in as many chances.
The Manatees offense ended the night with seven hits, three
from Iskenderian, two from Ortega and one each from Pena and Dustin Houle. With
the victory, the Manatees picked up a series split. They will now visit Dunedin
for a weekend series with the D-Jays. Friday is a doubleheader, making up a
game rained out in Brevard County back on May 4. The Manatees had not named
their starters, as of publishing time.
This article originally appeared on the now defunct Examiner.com on 5/12/16
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