Lakeland Scores Early and Often in Win over Manatees

Elvis Rubio

The Lakeland Flying Tigers scored four runs in the first, five in the third and four more in the seventh, en route to a 14-6 drubbing of the Manatees at Space Coast Stadium.

It was a very forgettable night on the mound for Manatees starter Kodi Medeiros, who lasted a third of an inning, facing seven batters. He walked four, three of which scored in succession and allowed one hit. He also had a wild pitch and a hit by pitch in the inning. He threw 41 pitches, only 19 were strikes. According to reports from the ballpark, Medeiros (4-11) did not hit 90 on the radar gun.

Clint Terry was called on to stop the bleeding and he did, getting a fly out and a pop out. Rashad Brown started the second by reaching on an error by Blake Allemand, allowing him to get to second. A.J. Simcox followed with a double, giving Lakeland a 5-0 lead. After hitting Tyler Botnick with a pitch, Terry got Wade Hinkle to ground into a double play and a grounder from Ross Kivett, ended the inning.

Lakeland (20-30, 54-64) exploded for five runs in the third inning, starting with a home run off the bat of Zac Shepherd, his 14^th of the season. Terry came back to strike out Ben Verlander, but he reached on a wild pitch. Brown singled later in the inning to make it 7-0. Two batters and one run later, on a fielder’s choice, Bubba Derby took over for Terry on the mound.

Terry gave up six runs (five earned) on six hits, in just two innings. He struck out one and walked one, throwing 28 of 40 pitches for strikes. A sacrifice fly and a bases loaded walk, gave Lakeland a 10-0 lead before Ben Verlander flew out to end the inning.

Brandon Diaz

Brevard County (14-39, 37-84) finally got to Lakeland starter A.J. Ladwig (10-9) in the bottom of the third. Brandon Diaz, Corey Ray and Mitch Ghelfi hit back-to-back-to-back one out singles, loading the bases. Allemand hit a sac fly to left, getting the Manatees on the board. Elvis Rubio followed with his sixth home run of the season, driving it 377-feet and closing the gap to 10-4. David Denson singled, but Wendell Rijo flew out, ending the frame.

The scoring barrage settled down until the seventh, when Lakeland logged four straight hits, resulting in two more runs before an out was recorded on a Shepherd strikeout. Verlander added two more runs on his first triple of the season, giving the Flying Tigers their second 10 run lead of the night.

Derby got through that frame, giving him 4.2 innings in the outing. He allowed four runs on seven hits, walked three and struck out five. He threw 91 pitches, 61 for strikes. Jon Olczak pitched the final two innings and allowed four hits and struck out one. He was the only Manatees’ hurler who did not give up a run.

Ladwig finally gave way to the bullpen after seven innings. He allowed four runs on seven hits, did not walk a batter and struck out four. He threw 62 of his 83 pitches for strikes. He gave way to Austin Kubitza, who got through the eighth, but ran into trouble in the ninth, giving up two runs. A Diaz sac fly and a fielder’s choice RBI by Ray made it 14-6. Allemand went down swinging to end the game.

For more info: Lakeland @ Brevard County boxscore

Lakeland out hit the Manatees 18-11. Simcox went 4-for-5 with three runs, Hinkle had two hits and two RBIs and Verlander was 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Corey Ray, Ghelfi, Rijo and Diaz each had two hits for the Manatees.

Stat of the night, courtesy of Jerry Durney: With his RBI on Wednesday, Allemand now has 11 in August. That matches his total for the month of July.

Devin Williams will make his first start for the Manatees on Thursday, in the final game of the series against Lakeland. The first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

 This article originally appeared on 27OutsBaseball.com on 8/17/16