Ponce Fans 12, Marauders walk-off in 13

Cody Ponce

The Brevard County Manatees got all they could hope for from starting pitcher Cody Ponce on Saturday. Unfortunately, he was long gone by the time the game was decided. Cole Tucker, who was 0-for-5 with two strikeouts going into the 13^th inning, came through with a walk-off single, helping the Marauders steal a 2-1 victory at McKechnie Field.

Ponce dominated the Marauders, throwing six innings of shutout baseball and the Manatees offense got on the board in the top of the third against Bradenton starter Jonathan Brubaker. Corey Ray singled to start things, but was later thrown out in his first stolen base attempt as a pro. Blake Allemand followed with a single and rode home on a Dustin DeMuth double down the left field line. With that, the Manatees led 1-0.

Ponce made that run stand up, striking out the side in both the fourth and fifth inning. In the fifth, he dropped a curveball on Wyatt Mathisen that impressed the Marauders announce team. His 10^th strikeout of the night came against Taylor Gushue, who was up 3-0 in the count, before Ponce came back to strike him out. His final victim of the inning was Michael Suchy.

The 12^th and final strikeout of the night came in the bottom of the sixth inning. He finished the inning and shattered his previous career high of five strikeouts. Marauders play-by-play man Nate March called Ponce’s performance the most impressive he can remember seeing against Bradenton.

When all was said and done, Ponce did not walk a batter and did not allow a run. He threw 52 of his 73 pitches for strikes. Considering he had 12 strikeouts and a couple three ball counts in there, the pitch count is pretty impressive. Freddy Peralta took over for Ponce in the bottom of the seventh. 

Peralta was making his first appearance with Brevard County, after being called up from Low-A Wisconsin earlier in the day. Peralta walked two in his debut inning, but struck out Gushue to get out of trouble.

Brubaker’s performance was kind of lost with what Ponce did, but he pitched seven strong innings, giving up one run on seven hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out one, throwing 71 pitches, 48 for strikes. Sam Street took over for him in the eighth and trouble found Street immediately.

Ray led off with a single and went to second a few moments later when catcher Gushue fumbled the ball throwing it back to the mound. Ray alertly took second and Gushue was charged with an error. After Allemand lined out, the Marauders intentionally walked DeMuth, who was 3-for-3 at the time. That ended up being the right call, because Elvis Rubio grounded into an inning ending double play.

Peralta retired the first batter in the eighth before giving up a single to Elvis Escobar, who had three of the Marauders four hits to that point. Cole Tucker got ahead in the count 3-0, before Peralta got him to fly out. With Escobar on second and Polo at first, Peralta uncorked a pitch in the dirt. The runners took off and Dustin Houle pounced on it. Polo got caught in a rundown, hoping Escobar would score. It didn’t happen, as Polo was tagged out before the tying run could score.

Peralta came back out for the ninth and walked Kevin Kramer. He went to second on Jerrick Suiter’s sacrifice bunt. Manatees manager Joe Ayrault went to the bullpen, bringing in Jon Olczak, who was looking to bounce back from a blown save on Friday.

Olczak struck out Chase Simpson for the second out, but Mathisen came up and stroked one toward 

Elvis Rubio in right, who can't make the play.

The ball went all the way to the wall and Kramer scored the tying run. It was Mathisen’s first double of the season. For Olczak, it was his second blown save in as many nights and his third of the season.

Kender Villegas took over for Olczak to start the 11^th inning. He pitched well, before running into trouble in the bottom of the 13^th. Suchy singled to start the inning and went to second on a sac bunt by Escobar. After Polo singled, to move Suchy to third, Tucker knocked him in with the game winning single.

For More info: Brevard County @ Bradenton

The Manatees had 10 hits as a team. Corey Ray went 2-for-6, DeMuth went 3-for-4 with the only RBI and now has 11 hits in his last four games. George Iskenderian rounded out the multi-hit night, going 2-for-5 with a double.

Roster moves: Angel Ventura, who has been pitching well for the Manatees, received a call to Double-A Biloxi today, clearing space for Peralta. Wendell Rijo has also joined the Manatees as well, he was acquired this week from the Red Sox in the Aaron Hill trade.

The series at Bradenton continues Sunday afternoon, with Jon Perrin (1-6, 3.18 ERA) taking the ball for the Manatees. First pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.

This article originally appeared on 27OutsBaseball.com on 7/9/16