Sports Lowdown

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...

Elvis Rubio The Lakeland Flying Tigers scored four runs in the first, five in the third and four more in the seventh, en route to a 14-6 drubbing of the Manatees at Space Coast Stadium. It was a very forgettable night on the mound for Manatees starter Kodi Medeiros, who lasted a third of an inning, facing seven batters. He walked four, three of which scored in succession and allowed one hit. He also had a wild pitch and a hit by pitch in the inning. He threw 41 pitches, only 19 were strikes. According to reports from the ballpark, Medeiros (4-11) did not hit 90 on the radar gun. Clint Terry was called on to stop the bleeding and he did, getting a fly out and a pop out. Rashad Brown started the second by reaching on an error by Blake Allemand, allowing him to get to second. A.J. Simcox followed with a double, giving Lakeland a 5-0 lead. After hitting Tyler Botnick with a pitch, Terry got Wade Hinkle to ground into a double play and a grounder from Ross Kivett, ended the i...

Mitch Ghelfi & Wendell Rijo The Brevard County Manatees amassed 14 hits on Tuesday, but came up on the short end of an 8-5 score in the series opener against visiting Lakeland. The 1,079 fans in attendance were treated to a lot of offense, as the teams combined for 25 hits. “We spread the hits out,” said Manatees skipper Joe Ayrault. “The guys have definitely been swinging the bats better, just gotta come through with the big hits and do a better job on the defensive side and with the pitching.” Manatees starter Cody Ponce got through the first inning unscathed and got some offensive help in the bottom of the first, with Mitch Ghelfi, Blake Allemand Elvis Rubio and David Denson hitting consecutive singles with one out in the bottom of the first. Rubio’s knock resulted in an RBI and Wendell Rijo followed the Denson single with an RBI ground out, giving the Manatees a 2-0 lead. Lakeland came back in the top of the second inning, loading the bases immediately. Ben V...

Mitch Ghelfi It took 17 innings Wednesday for the Lakeland Flying Tigers to claim a 2-1 victory in the rubber game of a three-game series at Henley Field. It was quite a pitcher’s duel to start, as Bubby Derby and Jeff Thompson kept the offense to a minimum. Each starter was long gone before this one was decided. Thompson allowing one hit through the first six innings, a Wendell Rijo single in the third. He finally ran into trouble with two outs in the seventh. Blake Allemand and Mitch Ghelfi singled, before Thompson walked David Denson to load the bases. Zac Reininger was called on out of the Lakeland bullpen and he was able to strike out Malik Collymore, to end the inning. Thompson allowed three hits in 6.2 innings. He walked two and struck out four, throwing 96 pitches, 63 strikes. On the other side, Derby allowed two hits through his first five innings. He gave up a single to A.J. Simcox in the first and a Wade Hinkle knock in the fifth. He didn’t allow another bas...

Fidel Pena The Brevard County Manatees evened the series at Lakeland on Tuesday, with a 6-4 win in a rain-shortened, six inning game. Brevard County got on the board early against starter Matt Hall, but had to stave off a Flying Tigers rally in the middle portion of the game. Corey Ray, Fidel Pena and George Iskenderian started off the game with consecutive singles. Iskenderian’s brought Ray home with the first run. Iskenderian was promptly picked off at first. One out later, Hall uncorked a wild pitch and Pena moved to third. Blake Allemand followed with an RBI single to left and the Manatees led 2-0. Marcos Diplan started the game for Brevard County and after retiring Lakeland in order in the bottom of the first, he was given more offensive support in the top of the second. Mitch Ghelfi led off with a walk and went to second on a Malik Collymore single, one out later. Ray came up for his second at bat and drew a walk, to load the bases. Fidel Pena then took Hall deep ...

Elvis Rubio The Lakeland Flying Tigers got home runs from Kade Scivicque and Zac Shepherd in the sixth inning Monday night, en route to a 6-2 win over the visiting Brevard County Manatees. The loss tempered the start of Phil Bickford, who made his Manatees debut on the mound. Bickford gave up one hit through his first three innings and the Manatees gave him an early lead in the bottom of the first. George Iskenderian singled against Lakeland starter Spencer Turnbull and went to second on a wild pitch. He rode home on an RBI single off the bat of Elvis Rubio. Turnbull was done after three innings, as he works his way back from a right shoulder impingement. He was relieved by Austin Kubitza, after throwing 54 pitches, 36 for strikes. He recorded three strikeouts. The Manatees got to Kubitza right away. Rubio and David Denson drew back-to-back one out walks and Allemand brought Rubio home with a single, giving the Manatees a 2-0 lead. Kubitza settled down, coming back t...

Clint Terry The Brevard County Manatees got a series win on Thursday, taking the finale of a three-game set from the Lakeland Flying Tigers by the score of 7-3. Dustin DeMuth continued his hot hitting in the series, going 3-for-5 with an RBI, leading the Manatees’ 12 hit attack. Elvis Rubio had two hits and Jose Cuas drove in two runs. Lakeland helped out, committing five errors in the contest. Tyler Alexander (4-4) got the start for Lakeland and the Manatees got to him early. DeMuth singled and was chased home on a double by Elvis Rubio. The visitors added another run in the second inning, beginning with Cuas drawing a one out walk. A double by Malik Collymore got him to third and he scored when Johnny Davis grounded out. Just like that, the Manatees’ led 2-0. Clint Terry got the start for Brevard County and gave up a double to Mike Gerber to start the bottom of the second. Joey Pankake’s sac fly got him to third and he scored on a failed pickoff attempt by Manatees’ c...

Adam Weisenburger The Brevard County Manatees were looking to make it two in a row at Lakeland on Wednesday, but the home team spoiled those plans, coming away with a 5-2 victory at Henley Field. The game was scoreless through three, as pitchers Jon Perrin and Endrys Briceno were able to navigate their way through the order for both sides. Brevard County (17-35) got their first hit and first baserunner in the third. Jose Cuas was hit by a pitch and Johnny Davis singled, moving Cuas to third. Davis then stole his 16 th  base of the season, but the runners were stranded when Angel Ortega went down swinging. The Manatees got to Briceno starting the fourth. Dustin DeMuth, who  homered in the Manatees’ victory  on Tuesday, started the inning off with a single. He stole his first base of the season one out later and scored on an Adam  Weisenburger RBI single, giving Brevard County a 1-0 lead. That lead didn’t last long, as Lakeland answered in the bottom of th...

Dustin DeMuth The Brevard County Manatees got home runs from Dustin DeMuth and Taylor Brennan Tuesday night, carrying them to a come-from-behind 7-4 win over the Lakeland Flying Tigers, at Henley Field.  DeMuth’s homer was part of a three hit, five RBI night. Johnny Davis had the only other multi-hit night for the visitors, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored. For the third time in the month of March, the Manatees welcomed a Major League rehabber into the clubhouse. On March 10 th it was second baseman Scooter Gennett , on March 24 th pitcher Will Smith came down for a few days and Tuesday night, it was pitcher Corey Knebel . Knebel started the game and pitched one inning, giving up a walk and a single. He struck out Mike Gerber to end the inning, one of two strikeouts he had. He faced five batters, throwing 24 pitches, 14 for strikes. Angel Ventura (1-2) who was the Manatees scheduled starter, took over in the second inning. Ventura walked Joey Pankake and...

Bubba Derby The Brevard County Manatees were on the disappointing end of a 2-1 score Saturday night at Space Coast Stadium. A second inning home run off the bat of  Joey Pankake  was the difference, in a fast-moving, exciting game, played in front of 2,535 Brevard County fans, in a time of 2:11. Johnny Davis , who reached base four times in  Friday night’s loss , should have reached four more times on Saturday, but was called out on a couple very close plays at first base. The first of those plays came leading off the bottom of the opening frame against Major League rehabber  Angel Nesbitt , who was making his second appearance of the series.  Davis appeared to hit the bag ahead of a throw from shortstop. He was called out and voiced his displeasure, as did Manatees manager Joe Ayrault, who did a good job of picking up the argument to make sure his player stayed in the game. Nesbitt threw the first two innings before giving way to  A.J. L...

Dustin DeMuth The Lakeland Flying Tigers took down the Brevard County Manatees 7-3 on Friday, in game two of their series at Space Coast Stadium. It was the second straight win for Lakeland, who has had a lot of success against the Manatees this season. Things started well for the ‘Tees, who broke out on top in the bottom of the first against Lakeland starter Jairo Labourt. Johnny Davis walked to lead off the inning and went to second on an Angel Ortega single. Davis was erased when George Iskenderian hit into a double play. Ortega went to second on the play and he scored when Dustin DeMuth laced a double to left, his fifth of the season. The lead didn’t last long, with Lakeland answering back against Eric Hanhold in the top of the second. With one out, Casey Frawley hit a solo shot into the bullpen in left, tying the game at one.   Joey Pankake, who had the game-winning hit in Thursday night’s victory, followed the home run with a single. Hanhold would then wal...

Kodi Medeiros After being rained out on Wednesday, the Brevard County Manatees welcomed the Lakeland Flying Tigers to Space Coast Stadium, to start a three-game series on Thursday. The Manatees have struggled against the Flying Tigers this season, going 1-5 in their previous six meetings.  Those struggles continued in this game, with Lakeland winning, 4-2 and snapping Brevard County’s three game winning streak. The Manatees came into the game winning five of their last six and the offense had been performing well during that stretch. They sputtered a bit on this night, getting just five hits in the game, all of them singles.  Elvis Rubio , who  had a home run  in his debut on Tuesday, had two of the hits Thursday, as did George Iskenderian.  Left-hander  Kodi Medeiros  started for the Manatees and gave up six hits in 3.2 innings of work. He got into trouble in the top of the first, giving up two hits and a walk, the second of those h...

Gregory McCall The Brevard County Manatees finally came out on the winning side of the ledger Thursday, with a 5-4 victory over Lakeland at Space Coast Stadium, sending 1,142 fans home happy for the first time this season.  The win was the first for the Manatees at home and their first win of any kind, since a 13-0 drubbing of the St. Lucie Mets back on April 17. “It definitely felt good to shake hands after the game,” said Manatees manager Joe Ayrault. “Our guys showed a lot of heart and battled.” Things didn’t look good early for the Manatees, who were let down by their defense again, something that has plagued this team throughout the losing streak. After Manatees’ starter Brandon Woodruff got the leadoff man to fly out, Jared Reaves hit a seemingly harmless fly ball to Clint Coulter in right.  Coulter was under it, but inexplicably had the ball hit off his glove, allowing Reaves to go to second. After Mike Gerber grounded out, which would have been the ...

Angel Ortega The Brevard County Manatees deserved a better fate Wednesday at home, against the Lakeland Flying Tigers. The ‘Tees came up on the short end of a see-saw game against the Flying Tigers, with the visitors pulling out a 7-6 win in 10 innings. Lakeland (10-10) got to Manatees’ starter Bubba Derby early, with two singles in the first inning by Ross Kivett and Mike Gerber. There was an error on the Gerber single, allowing both runners to move up. The error proved insignificant, because Christin Stewart would follow with his Florida State League leading seventh home run of the season. He belted it deep to right and the only question was, would it stay fair? The answer, unfortunately for Derby and the Manatees, was yes. The ball hit off the foul pole and just like that, it was 3-0. Brevard County looked poised to do some damage in the bottom of the inning when Johnny Davis walked and Angel Ortega singled through the right side. Davis stopped at second, but could...