Fort Myers Sinks Manatees Once Again

By  //  July 28, 2012

Moye Will Pitch For Brevard Tonight

FORT MYERS, FLORIDA – Pitcher Taylor Jungmann, a 2011 first-round draft pick, had the second shortest start of his career as the Brevard County Manatees were defeated by the Fort Myers Miracle, 6-3 at Hammond Stadium on Friday night.

Taylor Jungmann of Brevard County failed to pitch past the fifth inning for the third time in 20 starts this season on Friday. (Image courtesy Brevard County Manatees)

Jungmann (8-6, 4.02) went just 3.2 innings as he allowed six earned runs on ten hits. He walked two and struck out one as he failed to get past the fifth inning for the third time this season out of 20 starts.

The Miracle jumped on Jungmann and the ‘Tees (19-16 second half, 48-55 overall) in the first inning as Daniel Santana led off the inning with a single and two batters later, Steven Liddle singled to put runners on the corners with one out. Then with Josmil Pinto at the plate, Jungmann threw two wild pitches, the first of which allowed Santana to score.

After walking Pinto, Lance Ray singled to left to bring home Liddle and make it a 2-0 game in favor of the Miracle (18-18, 46-57). A third wild pitch in the inning by Jungmann allowed runners to move to second and third, but he was able to induce two consecutive ground outs to end the inning and prevent any further damage.

The Manatees would those runs back right away as Mike Walker led off the second with a solo homer. Brock Kjeldgaard then singled and would score three batters later on a two-out double by Parker Berberet as the Manatees tied the game.

A two-out RBI single by Anderson Hidalgo in the third would give the lead back to Fort Myers and then the Miracle touched up Jungmann for three runs in the fourth. A RBI double from Steven Liddle gave Fort Myers a 4-2 lead and then two batters later Lance Ray hit a two-run homer to right to make it a 6-2 game.

The duo of Tommy Toledo and Eric Arnett out of the bullpen kept the Manatees in the game the rest of the way as Toledo threw 2.1 shutout innings and Arnett threw two of his own with three strikeouts.

Brevard however would only be able to get one run the rest of the way as Walker hit his second solo shot of the game with one out in the sixth. For Walker, it was his first career multi-homer game as he continues to have a stellar July. He is hitting .313 with a .429 on-base percentage and .484 slugging percentage in 20 games this month.

The Manatees will try and get their first win of the series against the Miracle as the two teams square off again on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m.

Andy Moye (4-2, 5.36) will toe the rubber for Brevard as he will be making his first appearance since July 15. Moye is looking for his first win since June 29 and has struggled in July with a 0-2 record and a 7.63 ERA in three starts.

Fort Myers will counter with southpaw Pat Dean (6-6, 3.89). The 2012 Florida State League All-Star is looking for his first win since June 27 and his only other start against the ‘Tees back on May 18, he allowed just one run and struck out eight in eight innings of work.