Mader Masterful in Win Over Manatees

Elvis Rubio

Miami Marlins No. 21 prospect Michael Mader held the Brevard County Manatees to one run over seven innings, helping the Jupiter Hammerheads to a 3-1 win Thursday night in front of 1,487 fans at Space Coast Stadium.

The Manatees (5-15, 28-60) built a threat in the bottom of the first, with Corey Ray leading things off with a bunt that drew the first baseman away from the bag and by the time Mader picked up the ball, there was no one covering first and Ray beat it out. It was one of two hits on the night for Ray.

“That’s gonna be a good weapon in his arsenal,” said Manatees manager Joe Ayrault. “To see him do that on his own was one of the highlights of my night. It was exciting.” 

Wendell Rijo followed with a sacrifice bunt right in front of the plate and the Manatees had a runner in scoring position, two batters in.

As he did for much of the night, Mader navigated his way through it. He struck out Wednesday night’s hero Dustin DeMuth and got Clint Coulter to ground out. DeMuth got two more hits on Thursday, despite the fact that he wasn’t feeling well, according to Ayrault. “He grinded it out for us and ended up with a couple knocks.”

Brevard County got to Mader for their only run of the night in the bottom of the fourth. DeMuth led off with a single and went to second on a Coulter ground out. Elvis Rubio drilled a double into the left field corner, scoring DeMuth and putting the Manatees ahead 1-0.

The lead didn’t last long as Jupiter tied things up in the top of the fifth frame, against Manatees starter Kodi Medeiros. The ninth hitter in the order, Rony Cabrera singled home Avery Romero to tie the game. Romero walked to start the inning. That was the only earned run Medeiros would allow, but he would run into trouble again in the sixth, not of his own doing.

Dexter Kjerstad reached on an error to start the frame. It was a ball hit to third that took a tough hop off the lip of the grass. Manatees third baseman George Iskenderian got in front of the ball, but that hop caused him to misplay it. John Norwood singled and Brad Haynal knocked in Kjerstad and made it a 2-1 game.

That was the end of the night for Medeiros (4-8), who gave way to Clint Terry. He inherited a first and third one out situation. After getting the second out on a strikeout, Romero lifted a sac fly to center, scoring the third Jupiter run. That closed the book on Medeiros, who went five-plus innings, allowing four hits and one earned run. He walked four and struck out two. Medeiros threw 96 pitches, 57 for strikes.

“He worked deep in a lot of counts, but he’s got great stuff,” Ayrault said of Medeiros. “He is a young kid, one of the youngest in the league and he’s coming along nicely.”

Brevard County got one more chance in the bottom of the seventh and were on the receiving end of some bad luck. With two outs, Fidel Pena singled and Jose Cuas blasted one over the head of the center fielder. Pena scored easily from first on the play and Cuas went to third. Only one problem. The ball hit on the warning track and bounced off the wall, above the yellow line, meaning it was only good for a ground-rule double. That meant that Pena had to go back to third and Cuas back to second.

“Just tough luck, I think that’s the first one this year that we’ve had and it cost us a run,” Ayrault said. “Back in the day, I’d say until two years ago, they didn’t have that yellow line there… you had to hit it over the batter’s eye.” Malik Collymore came to the plate with the tying run now at second, but Mader was able to get him to fly out.

Clint Terry

Terry deserves a tip of the cap for keeping the Manatees in it. He ended up pitching the last four innings, allowing just two hits. He walked one and struck out three, throwing 50 pitches, 35 for strikes.

“He’s done a great job, come in with runners on base quite a few times,” Ayrault said. “Tonight he minimized the damage and threw three scoreless after that. He Did a great job mixing his pitches. I just wish we could’ve strung them together and scored some runs.”

For more info: Jupiter @ Brevard County boxscore

FSL Pitcher of the Week Cody Ponce (0-2, 3.24) will try to get the Manatees a win on Friday, as he pitches game three of the series. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.

This article originally appeared on 27OutsBaseball.com on 7/14/16