Tampa Triumphs in Series Opener Against Manatees

Angel Ortega
The Tampa Yankees exploded for five runs in the top of the ninth inning Friday, taking game one of a weekend series from the Brevard County Manatees in front of 1,539 fans at Space Coast Stadium. The big inning turned a 2-2 game, into a lopsided 7-2 victory for the T-Yanks.

Kodi Medeiros started the game for the Manatees and struggled a bit with his command, but he only allowed one run on three hits in his five innings of work. He overcame five walks and Manatees manager Joe Ayrault liked what he saw.

“Medeiros was much better today,” he said. “Hopefully that carries over into his next outing.” The biggest issue Friday for the Manatees’ hurler was the five walks he allowed. The Yankees first run was a direct result of free passes. Medeiros walked Thairo Estrada to start the second inning. After striking out Michael O’Neill, Medeiros gave up a single to Zach Zehner. Vicente Conde struck out for the second out, but Santiago Nessy drew another walk, loading the bases. Jorge Mateo was next to the dish and he drew another walk, forcing in the run.

The inning looks bad on the surface, but the strike zone was not friendly to Medeiros on this night, so even though the walks are on him, he deserved better. As it was, the Yankees took advantage and jumped out to the 1-0 lead. They looked poised to add to the lead in the fourth inning, but Medeiros got some help from his defense.

O’Neill started the inning, drilling a ball to right fielder Clint Coulter. By the time Coulter got to the ball, O’Neill was almost to second and decided to go to third. One thing Coulter didn’t lose while recovering from his oblique injury was his arm strength. He gunned the ball to Fidel Pena, who threw a perfect strike to Jose Cuas at third and O’Neill was punched out. “Coulter’s got a real strong arm and it was a good relay to Pena,” said Ayrault. “Nice deke by Cuas as well.”

Kodi Medeiros
Kodi Medeiros
Medeiros had the five walks, but he also had five strikeouts. His ERA went from 7.01 down to 6.35. He threw 76 pitches, 37 for strikes.
The Manatees (16-32) got their first hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth, an Angel Ortega double against Tampa starter Vicente Campos. They would get to him again in the fifth. With one out, Pena singled. After Taylor Brennan flew out, Cuas drew a walk, bringing Johnny Davis up. He hit one to Mateo at short and as is usually the case, Davis beat it out and the bases were loaded for Angel Ortega.

Ortega worked the count and got a pitch to hit, stroking a line drive to right, plating two runs and turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-0 lead. “Key hit by Ortega, he was battling,” Ayrault said. 3-2 count, bases loaded smoked one to right and scored two. That was big for us.”
Clint Terry (BS, 1) came in to pitch the sixth inning for the Manatees. A walk and an error led to a sacrifice fly by Conde, scoring Estrada and tying the game at two. Terry threw 2.1 innings, giving up the one run on three hits. He walked two and struck out three, throwing 49 pitches, 29 for strikes. Jon 

Olczak came in with one out in the eighth, after Terry had given up two singles. “He didn’t have his usual stuff when he first went out there,” said Ayrault of Terry. “But he locked it in with his changeup and mixed his pitches well.  Besides giving up the run, he did a good job keeping us in the ballgame.”
Olczak worked out of the jam that Terry left him and came back out for the ninth. He got the first out, but the next six guys would reach, including Estrada on an RBI single, O’Neill on a two-run double and Zehner with an RBI single. That was the end of the night for Olczak, who gave way to Junior Rincon.

After retiring the first batter, Rincon gave up an RBI single to Mateo. When all was said and done, the T-Yanks sent 10 men to the plate and scored five times. All five of the runs were charged to Olczak. “He’d been throwing the ball very well for us,” Ayrault said of Olczak. “We’ll just take that outing and throw it away. He’ll be back in there for us late in the ballgame.”
Olczak (0-1) gave up five runs on four hits in one inning of work. He walked two and struck out one, throwing 18 of his 33 pitches for strikes.

For more info: Tampa @ Brevard County boxscore
The series continues Saturday, as the Manatees will send John Hanhold (2-5, 2.39 ERA) to the mound, against #10 Yankees’ prospect Ian Clarkin (3-4, 4.07 ERA). First pitch is set for 6:35 p.m.


Game notes: The Manatees had seven hits as a team Friday, with Ortega going 2-for-4. It was made official Friday before the game that Yankees pitcher Luis Severino will make a rehab start in Brevard County on Sunday. He has been on the disabled list since May 14, dealing with a triceps strain.

This article originally appeared on the now defunct Examiner.com on 5/27/16

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FIT Men Push Win Streak to Five

Image
Patrick Anderson - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech Men’s Basketball team beat Nova Southeastern Saturday, 98-90 and in the process won their fifth straight game and have now won seven out of eight, after two straight losses to start the season. The first half was a back-and-forth affair with Jordan Majors and Patrick Anderson dropping in 12 points apiece. Majors was 4-of-5 from three-point range and Anderson was 2-of-5, leading the Panthers to an 11-of-18 first half, from beyond the arc. “The difference in the game was clearly in two areas,” said Panthers head coach Billy Mims in his postgame interview with Jim Mitchell. “We made 14 threes’ in the game and we’re shooting the ball as well as anybody in the conference,” he said. “We shot 41 percent behind the arc and when you shoot like that, it’s hard to lose games. The other thing that stood out was how well we passed the basketball, talk about a team effort, we had 26 assists and only 13 tur...
Read more

FIT Women Lose Key Game at Lynn

Image
Gracie Doane - Photo credit: James Ragan Photography The Florida Tech women’s basketball team were doomed by a poor third quarter Friday night that saw the Lynn Fighting Knights outscore the Panthers 22-11, en route to a 71-61 Sunshine State Conference victory. The loss was the fourth in a row for Florida Tech. The Panthers troubles started early when leading scorer Shequana Harris was called for a foul two seconds into the contest. She picked up a second foul early and her third, just as the third quarter got underway. When all was said, and done, Harris played three minutes and scored two points. Florida Tech (6-6, 2-4 SSC) held their own early without her, leading 13-12 with 1:23 left in the first quarter, thanks to a layup by Gudlau Juliusdottir before Lynn overtook them, scoring five straight points and leading 17-13 at the end of the first quarter. Lynn (7-4, 2-3 SSC) extended their lead to 23-15 early in the second quarter and were up 27-19 before Gracie D...
Read more

Florida Tech Falls Late Against Adelphi

Image
The Florida Tech Panthers lacrosse team put up a great effort against the ninth ranked Adelphi Panthers on Thursday, losing 10-8 in a tightly contested game. Florida Tech goaltender Daniel Flock stood tall, against a highly skilled Adelphi squad, coming up with nine saves. The Panthers of Florida Tech scored six unanswered goals at one point, turning a 5-2 deficit into an 8-5 lead, but Adelphi scored five straight from about the halfway point of the fourth, to the end of the game and escaped with a victory. Florida Tech (1-1) did a lot of things right on Thursday statistically, winning in shots 37-29 and ground balls 37-31. They were 2-for-5 on the man-up, while AU was 1-for-3 and FIT was successful on 19 of their 20 clear attempts. Unfortunately, they did not win on the scoreboard and that’s the only number that counts. Adelphi (1-0) was led by Nick Racalbuto, who had four goals and Michael Osmundsen who had three, to go along with one assist. The other Racalbuto in ...
Read more