Sports Lowdown

Manatees Say Goodbye to Brevard County The final Brevard County Manatees game in franchise history was played Sunday in front of 1,573 fans at Space Coast Stadium in Viera. The game did not end the way the home crowd hoped, with the Manatees falling 6-4 to Daytona. “The fans were awesome and they showed their support all season long,” said Brevard County skipper Joe Ayrault. “No matter what our record was, they came out and supported our boys, they were great.” Daytona (40-28, 76-61) pounded out 15 hits on this night and got started right away, getting on the board in the top of the first, against Manatees starter Bubba Derby.  Blake Trahan  and Shed Long had back-to-back singles to start and  Gavin LaValley  kicked off his big night with a two-run double. Derby (6-13) got out of further trouble in the second inning, despite giving up two more hits. He was able to pick-off Shed Long, keeping Daytona off the board.  Unfortunately, Derby wa...

Phil Bickford For the second straight night , the Brevard County Manatees used a four-run inning to pull ahead and eventually beat the visiting Daytona Tortugas, 5-3. A crowd of 2,530 witnessed the Manatees 40 th  win of the season. Manatees starter  Phil Bickford  gave up a two out, two-run homer to  Aristides Aquino  in the top of the first, but settled down nicely and gave his team 6.1 innings of quality baseball, giving up four hits, three runs (two earned) and walking two. He struck out six, throwing 61 of his 95 pitches for strikes. Brevard County (40-96, 17-51) got one run back in the bottom of the first when leadoff man  Trey York  started things with a triple and came home on a  Mitch Ghelfi  ground out. Daytona starter  Jose Lopez  retired the next two batters, limiting the damage. Daytona threatened a couple times, leaving runners at third in the third and the fifth inning, but each time Bickford go...

Devin Williams The Brevard County Manatees got their last home series of the season off on the right foot, snapping a seven-game losing streak with a 4-3 win over the Daytona Tortugas on Friday. Starting pitcher Devin Williams was impressive for Brevard County, throwing 5.2 innings and picking up his first Advanced-A win. “He’s got good stuff and the way he carries himself, really showed me something,” said Manatees manager Joe Ayrault.  “He’s very confident.” The one inning that Williams ran into trouble was the second. He hit Aristides Aquino and then gave up back-to-back singles to Juan Duran and Reydel Medina, loading the bases. He then proceeded to walk Blake Butler, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead. He bounced back to get Chad Tromp to ground into a run-scoring double play and the final run came home on an error by Mitch Ghelfi at first base, giving Daytona a three-spot. The Manatees (16-51, 39-96) did all their scoring in the bottom of the third, against Da...

Wendell Rijo The Daytona Tortugas scored seven runs with two outs on Thursday, beating the Brevard County Manatees 10-0 in a rain-shortened, six-plus inning contest. It was the 20 th   loss in 21 games for the Manatees and they fell to 6-40 in the FSL North Division in the second half. Daytona got on the board in the bottom of the third. Shed Long tripled against Manatees starter  Cody Ponce , with two outs.  Gavin LaValley  singled him home and  Aristides Aquino  kept the inning going with a single of his own.  Juan Duran  capped a big inning for Daytona, with a 393-ft. blast, making it 4-0. Blake Trahan ’s RBI double in the fourth made it 5-0 and  Reydel Medina ’s RBI double in the fifth scored Aquino, who tripled one out earlier, giving the home squad a 6-0 lead. Ponce (2-8) was done after giving up six earned runs on nine hits. Obviously, the big blow was the homer by Duran, but the silver lining for Ponce was the eight st...

Trey York's first Advanced-A hit The Clearwater Threshers helped bolster their playoff position, picking up a doubleheader sweep of the Manatees on Tuesday, ending a marathon night of baseball. The Threshers won game one, 2-1 and completed the sweep with a 3-2 win in game two. Following the suspension of Monday night’s game, in the bottom of the second, the two teams were scheduled to resume play at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday. That didn’t happen, the teams sat through another 2 hour, 50-minute rain delay, before finally being able to pick up the first game, in the bottom of the second inning. Phil Bickford started the first game Monday, getting the first two Threshers out before walking the bases loaded. Jiandido Tromp bailed him out with a foul out to third. The Threshers were able to get on the board, just prior to the suspension Monday, thanks to a single by Carlos Tocci. That was the third single of the inning and gave the Threshers a 1-0 lead. The rain came at that p...

Dustin Houle The Tampa Yankees had a big offensive day on Sunday, knocking around Brevard County Manatees pitching for 15 hits in an 8-2 victory. It was the 15 th  consecutive victory for Tampa this season over the Manatees and they finished the season series with a 16-2 record. The day got off to a tough start for Manatees manager Joe Ayrault in the bottom of the first and was likely a sign of things to come.  With one out,  Thairo Estrada  and  Gleyber Torres  hit back-to-back singles against starter  Kodi Medeiros .  Trey Amburgey  was next to the plate and he checked his swing early in the at bat on a ball in the dirt. Manatees catcher  Mitch Ghelfi  caught it, but both Yankees runners moved up without a throw. Ayrault came out to argue, likely saying that the ball was foul-tipped, which is why there was no throw. He stated his case first to home plate umpire Jose Navas and then to base umpire Reid Joyner. He then ...

Corey Ray The Brevard County Manatees managed just two hits in a 4-1 loss to the Tampa Yankees, at George M. Steinbrenner Field. Both hits came off the bat of leadoff man  Corey Ray , who singled in the fourth and hit a home run in the seventh, breaking up the shutout. The Yankees started the scoring in the third inning, against Manatees starter  Cody Ponce .  Devyn Bolasky  tripled with one out and came home on a single off the bat of  Wes Wilson . After Ponce got the second out,  Jeff Hendrix  doubled, putting runners at the corners.  Gleyber Torres  followed with a walk to load the bases and  Trey Amburgey ’s single made it 2-0. When all was said and done, the Yankees sent eight to the plate, had four hits and a walk. They added some insurance, with two more in the fifth. Wilson singled and  Jorge Mateo  walked. A fly out by Jeff Hendrix got Wilson to third and Mateo later stole second. Torres plated them both ...

Jose Cuas The Brevard County Manatees pounded out 15 hits and sent nine men to the plate in the top of the ninth, scoring three runs, but falling just short in a 7-6 loss to the Tampa Yankees at George M. Steinbrenner Field. The Manatees left the bases loaded in that ninth inning and left 12 men on base in all, but showed a lot of fight, despite losing their 91 st game of the season and the 13 th in a row to the Yankees this season. Tampa is now 14-2 against Brevard County this season, with two games remaining. The Yankees (75-55, 33-28) scored a run in the top of the first, against Manatees starter Jon Perrin on a Gleyber Torres single. That plated Thairo Estrada, who had a hustle double earlier in the frame. Malik Collymore led off the top of the third with a single against Tampa starter Josh Rogers. One out later, Mitch Ghelfi moved him to third on an infield hit. Collymore later scored on a fielder’s choice by Blake Allemand, tying things up at one. Tampa ...

Blake Allemand The Brevard County Manatees suffered their 90 th loss of 2016 on Thursday, dropping a 5-2 decision to the Clearwater Threshers at Bright House Field. The Manatees offense managed only four hits, three against Threshers starter Elniery Garcia. Manatees starter Bubba Derby pitched well for the most part, but ran into trouble in the first inning.  Zack Coppola walked and Josh Tobias and Carlos Tocci followed with singles, loading the bases. That brought Aaron Brown to the plate and he hit a high-chopper over the head of Mitch Ghelfi at first, scoring two runs. Derby gave up two hits in the second, but got out of the inning, thanks in large part to a double play.  Meanwhile, his counterpart, Garcia, had not allowed a baserunner through 3.2 innings retiring the first 11 batters he faced. Blake Allemand changed that with one swing of the bat, a solo long ball, making it a 2-1 game, after four. After the two hits Derby allowed in the second, he wen...

Phil Bickford Corey Ray and Wendell Rijo both went 3-for-4 on Wednesday, leading the Brevard County Manatees to a 5-3 win at Clearwater. The win snapped a 13-game losing streak, that started back on August 10 at Lakeland. Manatees starter Phil Bickford held a very potent Clearwater offense off the board for the first four innings and got his first win in a Brevard County uniform. His team struck for two runs in the top of the fifth. Rijo singled with one out against Threshers starter Shane Watson and Ray singled one out later, moving Rijo to third. Mitch Ghelfi then drilled a 1-2 pitch to right, scoring Rijo. Aaron Brown came up throwing, but his throw to the plate was wide, allowing Ray to score and giving the Manatees a 2-0 lead. The lead wouldn’t last long, as Clearwater (75 -52, 36-23) got back-to-back two-out RBI singles in the bottom of the inning, from Carlos Tocci and Chace Numata, tying the game. The Manatees bounced right back in the top of the sixth, givin...