Brevard County Claims Doubleheader Sweep
By Brevard County Manatees // July 18, 2012
Final Game Of Series Tonight
PORT ST. LUCIE, FLORIDA – A sacrifice fly from Reggie Keen in the third inning was all that the Brevard County Manatees needed as they shutout the St. Lucie Mets, 1-0 in the second game of a twin bill on Tuesday night at Digital Domain Park.
The victory gave the Manatees their second doubleheader sweep in the last four days.
Eric Marzec (1-2, 3.03) started on the hill for Brevard (14-11 second half, 43-50 overall) and struck out a career-high six hitters in four scoreless innings of work. St. Lucie (11-15, 60-34) starter Rafael Montero was just as impressive as he fanned 10 Manatee hitters in six innings.
Despite Montero’s 10 strikeouts, the ‘Tees were able to string together the only run of the game in the third. Brent Dean led the inning off with a single to center and two batters later Nick Shaw singled to right to put runners on the corners with one out. Keen lifted a fly ball to center, which was deep enough to allow Dean to score.
Seth Harvey earned the win in relief as he threw 1.1 scoreless innings. St. Lucie did make things interesting in the bottom of the sixth as Daniel Muno singled with one out off of Harvey and then Mike Baxter walked to put two on.
Greg Holle relieved Harvey and walked the first batter he faced as Cory Vaughn reached to load the bases. Holle would get out of the jam thanks to two infield fly outs.
First game
The rallied in the top of the seventh inning and then held on to defeat the St. Lucie Mets, 6-5 in the first game of the doubleheader.
Down 3-2 heading into the seventh inning, Brevard County’s (13-11 second half, 42-50 overall) rally started with a one-out walk drawn by Mike Walker. Walker was lifted for a pinch runner in the form of Franklin Romero Jr. After Brock Kjeldgaard walked, St. Lucie (11-14, 60-33) made a pitching change and brought in Jeffrey Walters.
The first batter that Walters faced was Hector Gomez and Gomez was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Shea Vucinich would put the ‘Tees ahead 4-3 as he doubled to left field to plate Romero Jr. and Kjeldgaard.
Joey Paciorek would then strikeout but reached first on a wild pitch third strike that also allowed Gomez to score and give Brevard a 5-3 lead. John Dishon would close out the scoring for the ‘Tees in the seventh as he drove in Vucinich on a groundout as the Manatees took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh.
Casey Medlen came in to shut the door but ran into trouble early as he walked Daniel Muno and hit Alonzo Harris with a pitch to lead off the inning. After retiring T.J. Rivera, the Mets were right back in the game thanks to a double from Mike Baxter that cleared the bases and made it just a 6-5 Brevard County lead.
Medlen then walked Cory Vaughn as the winning run was now on base for the Mets. St. Lucie though would not complete the rally as Aderlin Rodriguez grounded into a 5-3 double play to end the game.
Drew Gagnon (0-0, 3.04) got the start for the ‘Tees and he went five innings, while allowing three runs on seven hits. Those three runs came in the second inning as the Mets sent seven hitters to the plate in the frame. Tommy Toledo earned the win out of the bullpen as he threw a scoreless sixth inning.
Walker cut St. Lucie’s lead to 3-2 in the fourth on a two-out, two-run homer, his seventh of the season. The Manatees were out hit 8-3 by the Mets, but all of Brevard County’s hits went for extra bases.
Brevard County and St. Lucie will close out their four-game set on Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m. as the Manatees will try and take three of four from the Florida State League first half South Division champions.
