Tampa Edges Brevard County In Ninth Inning
By Brevard County Manatees // April 24, 2013
Manatees Host Dunedin On Thursday
TAMPA, FLORIDA – With the game tied at two in the bottom of the ninth inning, Tampa Yankees’ right fielder Eduardo Sosa laced an RBI double down the left field line that scored Anderson Feliz and defeated the Brevard County Manatees 3-2 on Tuesday night at George M. Steinbrenner Field.
Chad Pierce came out of the bullpen for ‘Tees (10-9) in the bottom of the ninth and proceded to walk the leadoff man Feliz on five pitches. A successful sacrifice bunt by Francisco Arcia set up Sosa’s heroics. Sosa’s game-winning double went right past the diving Brandon Macias at third.
The Manatees forced the game to go to the bottom of the ninth by scoring the tying run in the top half of the frame. Cameron Garfield led off the inning with a single up the middle off of Zach Arneson.
After Arneson struck out Cody Hawn, Adrian Williams was summoned as a pinch runner for Garfield. With Yadiel Rivera at the plate, Williams stole second before advancing to third base of a wild pitch. Rivera lined a 3-2 pitch through the left side of the infield to drive Williams in and tie the game.
Tampa (10-9) took the lead in the eighth inning when Seth Harvey walked Ben Gamel with the bases loaded and one out. Harvey gave up two hits and two walks in succession before avoiding further damage by escaping a bases loaded jam.
Brevard County took the initial lead in the top half of the second inning. Hawn walked with one out before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Macias grounded an RBI single to right field that scored Hawn before Macias was tagged out in a rundown.
The Yankees tied the game when a wild pitch from Stephen Peterson in the fifth inning allowed Feliz to score with two outs.
Manatees starting pitcher Jacob Barnes (2-0, 1.08) left the game with two outs in the fifth inning with an undisclosed injury. The righty was spectacular before being forced to leave. He allowed one unearned run on one hit over 4.2 innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out four.
His counterpart, Mikey O’Brien (1-1, 5.60), pitched six innings and gave up one run on two hits and fanned eight batters. Brevard County had just four hits on the night.
With the loss, the Manatees finished the seven-game road trip with a 3-4 record, losing four of its last five.
Brevard County will return home Thursday after an off day to host the Dunedin Blue Jays for a three-game series at Space Coast Stadium. First pitch for is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
