Sports Lowdown

Cody Ponce Cody Ponce continued his impressive run of good pitching on Wednesday, as he led the Brevard County Manatees to a 1-0 win over the Palm Beach Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium. The win was the third in a row for the Manatees and they took the series, three games to one. Ponce gave up five hits, pitching one batter into the sixth inning. A walk to Michael Pritchard started that inning and ended the night for Ponce. He earned his second win of the season, giving up five hits, walking three and striking out four. He threw 55 of his 87 pitches for strikes Wednesday and has now had four straight starts of at least five innings. Ponce has 24 strikeouts over that span. Palm Beach had baserunners against Ponce in all five six innings, including two hits in the third inning, but he was helped by his defense and made the right pitches when needed. The Cardinals had their chances, but went 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position and left a total of 11 men on base. Br...

Jose Cuas Another night, another late-inning win for the Brevard County Manatees. After coming back twice to beat the Palm Beach Cardinals on Monday in 11 innings , they scored three times in the eighth inning on Tuesday, resulting in a 6-5 win. Jose Cuas landed the big blow in that frame, with a two-run single. Right handed pitcher Marcos Diplan was on the hill for the Manatees making his first start of the season, since being called up from Low-A Wisconsin earlier this month. The Cardinals Casey Turgeon greeted him rudely, as he hit a triple to center field, which was deflected to right fielder Clint Coulter. Diplan made the pitch he needed to the next batter, getting Cole Lankford to hit it to Wendell Rijo at second. Rijo came home with the ball and Turgeon was out at the plate. The reprieve didn’t last long, because Casey Grayson doubled to center, scoring Lankford with the first run. Michael Pritchard then reached on an error by third baseman George Iskenderian and ...

George Iskenderian The Brevard County Manatees (30-62, 7-17) rallied with two runs in the top of the ninth on Monday and went on to score the winning run in the top of the 11 th , beating the Palm Beach Cardinals (40-53, 8-17), 5-4 at Roger Dean Stadium. Eric Hanhold got the start for the Manatees and had one of his better starts of the season. He went seven innings, giving up four runs on seven hits, walking three and striking out six. Palm Beach scored a run in the bottom of the first on a double play grounder by Cole Lankford and a run in the fourth on a ground out by Thomas Spitz. Meanwhile, Palm Beach starter Matt Pearce did not allow a hit through the first five innings, with the only Manatee to reach was Elvis Rubio on an error in the fourth. That all changed in the sixth inning, when the Brevard County offense finally got going. Dustin Houle led off with a single and one out later, Corey Ray doubled, moving Houle to third. That hit extended Ray’s hitting ...

Fidel Pena The Palm Beach Cardinals lifted the lid on a four-game series against the Brevard County Manatees on Sunday, matching the Manatees with 13 hits and coming away with a 10-6 victory at Roger Dean Stadium. All of the Palm Beach starters had at least one hit and they were an impressive 7-for-12 with runners in scoring position, as a team. Bubba Derby started the game for the Manatees and Palm Beach got to him right away, scoring five times in the bottom of the first. Andrew Brodbeck, Cole Lankford and Casey Grayson hit consecutive one out singles. Grayson’s knock scored Brodbeck, making it 1-0. A fourth consecutive single by Thomas Spitz moved Lankford to third and he scored on an Oscar Mercado sac fly. The big blow came off the bat of Orlando Olivera, who launched his fifth homer of the season to left. Just like that, it was 5-0. Palm Beach starter Jacob Evans only lasted 2.2 innings and left without giving up a run. He gave way to Junior Fernandez after throwing...

George Iskenderian After beating Palm Beach 2-1 on Tuesday, the Brevard County Manatees were looking for their third straight win over the Cardinals on Wednesday, in the 10:35 a.m. series finale at Space Coast Stadium. Despite a late rally by the home nine, they fell short, 7-4. Palm Beach (31-34) jumped out early with a run in the first inning against Brevard starter Clint Terry. Oscar Mercado and then Terry was called for a balk, getting Manatees manager Joe Ayrault out of the dugout to argue. He was eventually tossed for arguing the balk. Mercado got another free base on a passed ball by Manatees catcher  Gregory McCall  and came home with the first run moments later on a sacrifice fly by Cole Lankford. Terry came back to get a strikeout and a ground out, ending a very eventful top of the first.  The Manatees (23-41) loaded the bases in the second inning on singles from  Clint Coulter  and  Jose Cuas  along with a walk by McCall. Card...

Kodi Medeiros The Brevard County Manatees flipped the script on “Awful Night” Monday, as they took down the visiting Palm Beach Cardinals, 8-3. On a night that featured awful music, awful games and an awful “fireworks” display, the Manatees offense was anything but awful. They got hits from all but one starter and five of the nine had multi-hit nights. The Sea Cows offense jumped out early, putting up four runs in the first inning against Palm Beach starter Jacob Evans. Omar Garcia and Angel Ortega opened the frame with back-to-back singles. Dustin DeMuth followed with a shot to right, scoring Garcia. The runners moved up to second and third, as Garcia slid in to the plate. Elvis Rubio’s RBI ground out made it 2-0 and Clint Coulter chased the left fielder back to the wall, with his sacrifice fly, scoring the third run. Coulter was the only starter without a hit in the lineup, but that was a productive out. “He hit that ball well,” said Manatees manager Joe Ayrault. “...

Greg McCall The Palm Beach Cardinals got good pitching, timely hitting and took advantage of a couple mistakes on Sunday, as they beat the Brevard County Manatees 9-2, in the opener of a four-game series at Space Coast Stadium. Palm Beach starting pitcher John Walter just signed with the club this week and was making his first Florida State League start in this game. He was opposed by Manatees hurler Cody Ponce, who was making his second start with the club this season. The Cardinals (30-32) got on the board first on a sacrifice fly from Chris Rivera in the second inning. Casey Grayson, who walked to start the inning, scored on the play. Ponce got through the inning and that was the end of his night. Brevard manager Joe Ayrault is still keeping Ponce’s innings limited, as he comes back slowly from arm issues. Ponce threw 34 pitches, 26 for strikes, walking one and striking out three and giving up one hit. He was charged with one run. Zach Hirsch took over for Ponce to st...