Manatees Swept by Lakeland
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| Corey Ray |
The Lakeland Flying Tigers completed a series sweep on
Thursday, beating the Brevard County Manatees 7-4 in front of 1,162 at Space
Coast Stadium. This was the final game between these two teams in 2016, with
Lakeland winning the season series 14-4.
The Manatees (14-40, 37-85) got on the board first when
Corey Ray led off the bottom of the first with a double and came home on an
Elvis Rubio double. Rubio came home thanks to two wild pitches by Flying Tigers
starter Spencer Turnbull.
Lakeland tied it in the top of the second against Manatees
starter Devin Williams. Anthony Pereira had an RBI double and Rashad Brown hit
a ball that dropped into short left field, with three Manatees in pursuit. That
scored Pereira with the tying run.
The Manatees regained the lead in the bottom of the third on
an RBI double by David Denson. It was Denson’s first RBI since his debut with
Brevard County 14 games ago. That lead was short-lived, as Lakeland picked up
two more runs in the top of the fifth.
Ismael Salgado singled and A.J. Simcox hit one back to the
mound that Williams was unable to pick up cleanly. Wade Hinkle loaded the bases
with a single and after getting a strikeout, walked Shepherd, plating one run
and gave up a sac fly to Ben Verlander, giving the visitors a 4-3 lead.
“Hinkle, (Zac) Shepherd, Verlander… these guys can swing
it,” said Manatees manager Joe Ayrault. “Verlander’s swung the bat really well
against us.”
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| Devin Williams |
Williams, who was making his first start for the Manatees
went 4.1 innings, gave up seven hits, four runs (two earned), walked four and
struck out two. He threw 96 pitches (60 strikes). Josh Uhen was called on out
of the bullpen and got the final two outs of the fifth.
Phil Bickford followed him, starting the sixth inning. Bickford
was making his home debut for the Manatees and he will certainly have better
nights ahead. He allowed a single, a hit batter and an RBI single from Hinkle
out of the gate, making it a 5-3 game. He then walked Kivett to load the bases
and Shepherd drew a walk, scoring Salgado with the sixth run.
Brevard County got one of those runs back in the bottom of
the inning when Ray smacked his second double of the night down the left field
line, scoring Wendell Rijo, who reached on an error to start the inning. That
closed the gap to 6-4, but that was as close as the Manatees would get.
Bickford continued to fight through adversity on the mound,
escaping trouble in the eighth. After retiring the first two batters, he walked
three in a row, loading the bases. He got Franklin Navarro to ground out,
ending the frame.
Ayrault explained after the game that Bickford’s issues had
to do with the humidity. “He was having trouble getting a grip on the ball,” he
said. “Mainly playing out west, something to get used to.”
Bickford went 3+ innings on Thursday, pitching to the first
two batters in the ninth, before giving way to Brad Kuntz. Bickford allowed
three runs on four hits, walked six and struck out two. He threw
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| Phil Bickford |
For more info: Lakeland
@ Brevard County boxscore
Ray led the Manatees with a three hit night, all of them
were doubles. “It was good to see him get a bunch of hits,” Ayrault said of
Ray. Six of the eight Manatees hits were doubles and half of those were off the
bat of Ray.
The Manatees will now turn their attention to the Tampa
Yankees, who come in for a weekend series, beginning Friday. Marcos Diplan is
scheduled to take the mound for Brevard County in a 6:35 p.m. start.
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