Sports Lowdown

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...

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...

Blake Allemand Phil Bickford  was impressive in his second start of the season for the Manatees on Saturday, striking out 10 Dunedin Blue Jays in five innings of work. Unfortunately, he did not factor into the decision, a 4-3 victory in 10 innings for Dunedin. Despite Bickford’s performance, Dunedin opened the scoring in the bottom of the first.  Dickie Joe Thon  singled and went to second on a wild pitch. He stole third, as  J.D. Davis  was striking out.  Ryan McBroom , who would be heard from again later, knocked Thon home with a single. Bickford ended up striking out the side in the inning and went on to strike out two in the second inning and two more in the third. He added one more in the fourth and two in the fifth. The Manatees offense rewarded him with two runs in the top of the sixth, against Dunedin starter  Luis Santos . Fidel Pena  singled with one out and rode home on a  Blake Allemand ...

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...