Manatees Edge Mets 4-3 at Space Coast Stadium
By Brevard County Manatees // May 16, 2013
FOUR GAME SET CONCLUDES TONIGHT
BREVARD COUNTY • VIERA, FLORIDA – A quintet of errors committed by the St. Lucie Mets led to a pair of unearned runs as the Brevard County Manatees held on for a 4-3 win on Wednesday night at Space Coast Stadium.
Nick Ramirez singled and advanced to second on a throwing error to lead off the second inning before Ben McMahan also reached on a base hit when he blooped one in between Travis Taijeron, T.J. Rivera and Aderlin Rodriguez behind first base. A single off the bat of Cody Hawn loaded the bases and a Lance Roenicke put up a sacrifice fly to score Ramirez for the first run of the game.
St. Lucie responded with a run in the next half inning to tie the game with a leadoff infield single, followed by a walk and then a single up the middle for Rivera.
GOFORTH FANS EIGHT
Brevard County (20-18) put two across in the fourth, including the first of the two unearned runs. McMahan notched his second of three hits and stole second base, which set him up to score on a double from Yadiel Rivera to the left field wall. Rivera then scored from second when Taijeron dropped a Lance Roenicke pop up in right field to make it a 3-1 game.
In the fifth, Chadwin Stang’s leadoff double nearly went to waste until T.J. Rivera booted a grounder to second that allowed Cameron Garfield to reach and Stang to score as he had been running on contact.
The Mets (23-14) tightened it up again by plating a run in the sixth. Matt Reynolds reached on the lone Manatees’ error of the evening by Brandon Macias and then came around to score on a double in the gap by Rodriguez to cut Brevard’s lead to 4-2.
In seven innings of work, ‘Tees starter David Goforth (3-4, 3.05) yielded just four hits and three walks that allowed two runs – one earned – to go along with a career-high eight strikeouts. In his last two starts, Goforth has allowed just five hits and one earned run in 14 innings of work. He is also now 2-1 with a 1.88 ERA at Space Coast Stadium in 2013.
St. Lucie threatened to at least tie the game, if not take the lead, against Seth Harvey in the ninth inning. Each of the first two batters, Rodriguez and Taijeron, reached on singles and were bunted over by Charley Thurber. Rodriguez then scored on a groundout, but the tying run would be left on third base as Harvey struck out Gilbert Gomez to earn his league-leading tenth save of the year.
FOUR GAME SET CONCLUDES TONIGHT
The four-game set will conclude on Thursday at Space Coast Stadium as the Manatees look to earn their first series win against an FSL South division opponent, having split against Bradenton and Charlotte. First pitch is at 6:35 p.m.
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