Brevard Manatees Take Care Of Lakeland 8-3, Riding 4-Game Winning Streak
By Brevard County Manatees // June 1, 2015
BREVARD COUNTY • VIERA, FLORIDA – For a second straight night, it was the offense of the Brevard County Manatees (22-27) that dominated against the Lakeland Flying Tigers (23-26) as Brevard County recorded an 8-3 win on Sunday night at Space Coast Stadium.
After Lakeland scored three runs in the top of the first against Wei-Chung Wang (3-2, 6.16 ERA), the Manatees scored the next eight runs of the ballgame.
Dominic Ficociello recorded an RBI double and Francisco Martinez drove home a pair with a double in the first to give the Flying Tigers an early three-run cushion.
The Brevard County offense responded immediately in the bottom of the first against Ryan Longstreth (2-4, 3.48 ERA).
With one out, Jonathan Lucroy drew a walk. Clint Coulter then doubled down the right field line to move Lucroy to third. Victor Roache lined a screaming one-hopper into the diving glove of the shortstop David Gonzalez. Gonzalez didn’t have a play as Lucroy scored, Coulter moved to third and Roache reached with an RBI infield single.
A Taylor Brennan walk loaded the bases. The next batter, Garrett Cooper, recorded an RBI on a sacrifice fly to right field. Coulter scored and Roache moved to third on the play.
Rafael Neda then walked to load the bases for Angel Ortega. He hit a hard grounder to first that couldn’t be handled by Bobby Borchering. Borchering deflected the ball into shallow right field and was credited with an error.
Both Roache and Brennan scored to give the Manatees a 4-3 lead.
Wei Chung Wang settled in after the first. He did not allow a run over the next five innings. Overall, Wang surrendered three runs on five hits and two walks. He fanned six.
On the other side, the Brevard County offense continued to impress. In the bottom of the fourth, Lucroy started a threat with a one-out walk. Coulter then singled to center. Roache hit another infield single to load the bases and to end Longstreth’s night.
Brennan Smith was summoned from the bullpen. Smith hit Brennan with a pitch to force in Lucroy. Cooper stepped up and lined a two-run double just fair down the first base line. Both Coulter and Roache scored to extend the Brevard County lead to four.
Longstreth was hit with the loss after his worst outing of the season. He allowed seven runs – five earned – on six hits. He walked four and struck out one.
Brevard County tacked on an insurance run in the sixth thanks to an RBI single by Neda.
Preston Gainey came on in relief to start the seventh. He retired the first eight men he faced before he ran into some trouble with two outs in the ninth. After a single and two walks loaded the bases, Gainey was removed in favor of Tyler Spurlin.
On the first pitch of the at-bat, Spurlin induced a groundout by Jiwan James to end the game. Spurlin recorded his first save of the season. Gainey lowered his ERA to 0.40 on the season after 2.2 scoreless frames.
Brevard County will turn to RHP Brandon Woodruff (1-2, 4.20 ERA) as they go for the sweep tomorrow.
LHP Matt Crouse (1-1, 0.87 ERA) will make a spot start for Lakeland.
First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m.
