Sports Lowdown

Corey Ray's Leaping Catch (5th inning) Saturday night turned into Sunday morning at Space Coast Stadium, as the Dunedin Blue Jays and Brevard County Manatees played two, with a two hour, 45-minute rain delay thrown in. When all was said and done, the Manatees were their own worst enemy, as errors directly affected the outcome of both games. Dunedin took game one 1-0 and game two, by the score of 4-3. In game one, Kodi Medeiros walked the first batter he faced in Anthony Alford, but he was caught stealing. Jorge Flores drew a walk and Gunnar Heidt hit one to third that was dropped by George Iskenderian. He picked it up, but rushed the throw and it sailed. Both runners were safe at first and second. One out later, Jonathan Davis ripped a single to left, scoring Flores and putting the Blue Jays up 1-0. That was the downside of the defensive spectrum for the Manatees, but Corey Ray showed the upside in the fourth inning. Ryan McBroom hit one to right center that was sink...

Zach Hirsch The Daytona Tortugas and Brevard County Manatees returned to the field on Wednesday, after enjoying a day off on Tuesday. The two teams played a doubleheader at Jackie Robinson Ballpark, with the Tortugas taking game one, 12-0 and game two 4-1, sweeping the twin bill. Javi Salas, who was a member of the Manatees starting rotation in 2015, returned from Double-A Biloxi on a rehab assignment, as the game one starter. He struggled mightily in this one, as the Tortugas sent 10 men to the plate and put five runs on the board, in the bottom of the first. Blake Trahan singled and came home on a two-run homer by Shed Long. Salas retired the next two batters, but the next five reached and brought Garrett Boulware to the plate with the bases loaded. He grounded to shortstop Wendell Rijo, who short-hopped the throw past Jose Cuas at first, resulting in two more runs and giving the home nine a 5-0 lead. The second inning was not much better for Salas, who faced nine ...

Dustin DeMuth With a win under their belt in  game one of Saturday’s doubleheader , the Charlotte Stone Crabs went into game two, looking for the sweep. They did just that, with the help of starting pitcher  Benton Moss , who allowed three hits in six-plus innings, earning the home team a 3-2 win at Charlotte Sports Park. Moss (5-7) allowed a leadoff double to  Corey Ray  in the first. After  Blake Allemand  bunted him to third,  Dustin DeMuth  plated him with a sacrifice bunt, putting the Manatees ahead early, 1-0. That lead didn’t last long, as the Stone Crabs got to Manatees starter  Eric Hanhold  (2-12) in the bottom of the frame. Jake Cronenworth  walked to start things and went to third on a single by  Andrew Velazquez , that went off of Allemand’s glove at second. A wild pitch moved Velazquez to second.  Joe McCarthy ’s sac fly eventually Cronenworth home with the tying run.  Grant Kay  foll...

Blake Allemand Following Friday night’s postponement due to rain, the Brevard County Manatees and Charlotte Stone Crabs played a doubleheader on Saturday at Charlotte Sports Park. Game one featured a very good pitcher’s duel between Chris Pike of Charlotte, who piggybacked Tampa closer Brad Boxberger and Bubba Derby of the Manatees. Boxberger, who started Thursday’s series opener went one inning on Saturday and the Manatees got to him for a run. With one out, Wendell Rijo singled and stole second, before coming home on Dustin DeMuth’s 21st double of the season and putting the visitors on top 1-0. Charlotte came back with an unearned run in the bottom of the inning. Jake Cronenworth got things going with an infield single. Derby then got the next two outs and looked to be out of the inning when Mac James hit a fly ball to right. Manatees’ right fielder Clint Coulter took a step in on the ball off the bat and that ended costing him. The ball was hit harder than he thought and by ...

Malik Collymore The Tampa Yankees got dominating pitching performances from  Josh Rogers  and  Domingo Acevedo  on Monday, as the two fired back-to-back 2-0 complete game shutouts against the visiting Brevard County Manatees at George M. Steinbrenner Field, completing a doubleheader sweep for the home nine. Rogers allowed three infield singles to the Brevard County in game one, it was his second complete game shutout of the season. He was very economical, boosting his record to 5-3. He struck out six over his seven innings of shutout baseball. He hit a batter in the seventh, but didn’t allow a walk and struck out six, throwing 88 pitches, 63 for strikes in a game that lasted one hour 21 minutes. Game two was 10 minutes longer. Of the three hits Rogers allowed, two came in the fourth inning and Brandon Diaz was the only Brevard County player to reach second base. After sending the first nine down in order, Rogers allowed a bunt single to Malik Collymore...

Fidel Pena The Brevard County Manatees and Fort Myers Miracle played two at Space Coast Stadium on Friday and unfortunately for the home team, runs were again hard to come by. The Manatees scored one run in 14 innings of baseball, dropping game one 4-1 and game two, 2-0. All seven of the combined runs came in the first inning of each game. Eric Hanhold has pitched better than his 2-7 record would indicate, but his tough luck continued in game one, as Fort Myers scored all their runs right out of the gate.  Joe Maloney and Edgar Corcino hit back-to-back singles to load the bases with two outs. Chris Paul followed with a line drive to center, knocking home the first two runs. Alex Perez and Logan Wade followed with RBI singles of their own, before Hanhold got Brian Olson to ground out, ending the inning. The Miracle sent nine men to the plate, picking up six hits and plating four runs. “They found the holes and put up the four runs,” said Brevard County manager Joe Ayr...

Angel Ventura The Yankees number one rated prospect and future shortstop Jorge Mateo gave the Bronx Bombers a glimpse of what the future might hold Saturday. Mateo split the gap in the bottom of the 10 th inning at Tampa, carrying the T-Yanks to a 3-2 win and a split of the doubleheader. The Brevard County Manatees (5-18) took game one by the score of 7-4 , but watched game two slip through their fingers. The Manatees got on the board early, taking advantage of two walks by Tampa starter Chance Adams. With one out, Adams issued consecutive free passes to Dustin DeMuth and Taylor Brennan. One out later, Gregory McCall’s one out single made it 1-0 Brevard County. Adams started the third inning by walking Johnny Davis. A single by Angel Ortega , went right back through the middle and just missed hitting Davis in the head. He was able to duck out of the way and move to third.  He scored shortly thereafter on a double play ball hit by Clint Coulter, who had a home run in...

Johnny Davis The Brevard County Manatees traveled to Tampa Saturday for a doubleheader, after an off-day Friday. The visitors pounded out 12 hits in game one and earned a much-needed 7-4 victory in game one. Brevard County (5-17) jumped out to an early lead against the T-Yanks, coming up with three runs in the third inning. Jose Cuas led off with a single and went to second on an errant pickoff throw. Brandon Diaz chased him home with an RBI double, making it 1-0. Johnny Davis followed with a bunt single, fielded by pitcher Ian Clarkin, who threw high and Davis eluded the tag at first. With runners at the corners, Angel Ortega grounded into a double play, getting Diaz home with the second run. Clint Coulter capped the inning with a home run over the left field wall. It was his first of the year and one that will hopefully jumpstart him offensively. George Iskenderian and Dustin DeMuth had back-to-back singles in the inning, but the Manatees were not able to add to the le...