Lakeland Hits Two Homers in Win Over Manatees


Dustin DeMuth
Dustin DeMuth
The Lakeland Flying Tigers took game two of their series with the Brevard County Manatees on Wednesday night, by the score of 5-2. This follows a 9-2 win in game one of the series on Tuesday. It was the third straight loss for the Manatees, who just snapped a five-game drought on Sunday.

A.J. Ladwig (3-0) outdueled Eric Hanhold (0-2) in the pitching matchup on Wednesday, going six innings, allowing one run on two hits in six innings. He struck out three and walked one in an 89 pitch, 68 strike performance. Hanhold went 5.2 innings allowing three runs on seven hits, walking none and striking out four. He threw 86 pitches, 57 were strikes.

Hanhold’s troubles started in the bottom of the second with one out, when Casey Frawley hit one out over the left-center field wall. He came back to get the final two outs of the inning, but would find trouble again in the third. Wade Hinkle led off with a double and came home on an RBI single by Ben Verlander, making it 2-0 in favor of the Flying Tigers. Hanhold got out of further trouble when A. J. Simcox lined a ball to short that Angel Ortega snagged and doubled off Verlander. The next batter flew out to end the inning.

Brevard County (3-11) would answer in the top of the fourth, plating two runs. Angel Ortega led off with a single and Dustin DeMuth chased him to third with his second double of the year. One out later, George Iskenderian’s single to left brought Ortega home, cutting the lead in half, 2-1. Iskenderian was thrown out trying to steal second moments later, but Dustin Houle kept the inning alive by drawing a walk. Omar Garcia was next to the plate and he reached on a bunt single back to the mound, allowing DeMuth to score with the tying run.

The game stayed that way until the sixth inning when Christin Stewart hit his fifth homer of the season over the right field wall, giving the Flying Tigers a lead they would not relinquish. Hanhold would get the next guy out, but a single to Grayson Greiner would end his night. He gave way to Jon Olczak, who gave up a single, before striking out Hinkle to end the inning.
Olczak struck the first two batters out in the seventh before walking Joey Pankake, who would get to second on a wild pitch. He came home on a single by Mike Gerber, extending the lead to 4-2. 

The Flying Tigers would score one more in the eighth, against the Manatees third pitcher, Tyler Spurlin. With two outs, Zach Shepard doubled and came home on Hinkle’s RBI single.
Dustin Houle drew a two-out walk in the top of the ninth, but Brevard County never threatened in their last at-bat. The Manatees managed six hits in the contest, with DeMuth getting the only multi-hit game (2-for-4) and the only extra-base hit, his RBI double in the fourth. Frawley, Greiner, Shephard and Hinkle all went 2-for-4 for the Flying Tigers.

For more info: Brevard County @ Lakeland boxscore

The Manatees will look to avoid the sweep in game three of the series on Thursday, at 10:30 a.m. Bubba Derby (1-0, 1.04 ERA) will take the mound for the Manatees, against Lakeland hurler Artie Lewicki (1-1, 4.66 ERA).

This article originally appeared on the now defunct Examiner.com on 4/20/16

   

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