Charlotte Stone Crabs vs St. Lucie Mets

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs swept the St. Lucie Mets and extended their winning streak to 5 games by defeating the Mets 3-2 today at Charlotte Sports Park. The Stone Crabs struck first in the bottom of the fourth when Reid Fronk hit an RBI double to score Matt Fields and break the scoreless tie.

St. Lucie answered by taking the lead in the seventh inning when Carlos Guzman struck a 2 run homerun to left field that put the St. Lucie Mets ahead 2-1. But the Stone Crabs answered in the bottom of the inning when Reid Fronk scored on a wild pitch by Nicholas Carr and tied the game at 2-2.

The 2-2 tied held to the bottom of the ninth inning. Ryan Royster led off the inning with a double to left. Emeel Salem entered the game to pinch run for Royster and was advance to third off a ground out by Matt Hall. St. Lucie then optioned to intentionally walk both Reid Fronk and Shawn Williams to load the bases for Nevin Ashley. That was a move that doomed the Mets as Ashley was then hit in the knee by a pitch and the game winning run crossed the plate.

Alex Cobb pitched 6 scoreless innings giving up 3 hits while striking out 5 and walking 1. Kevin Boggan gave up the 2 runs of the game in 1 2/3 innings pitched but collected 4 strikeouts in the outing. Austin Hinkle was the winner, pitching 1 1/3 no hit innings striking out 1 while walking 2. Emary Frederick was charged with the loss for St. Lucie.

For more pictures from the game, visit my Stone Crabs/Mets game gallery.

Charlotte Stone Crabs vs St. Lucie Mets

Port, Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs won their fourth game in a row and moved into second place in the FSL South division by defeating the St. Lucie Mets 4-2 at Charlotte Sports Park. The Stone Crabs put up a three run inning in the first to take the lead. Shawn O’Malley and Gregory Sexton scored on an errant throw by St. Lucie catcher Rafael Arroyo that made it wall the way to the left field corner. Then the very next batter, Cody Cipriano, homered to right to put the Stone Crabs up 3-0.

St. Lucie scored in the top of the third as Greg Veloz hit a sacrifice fly to center to score Seth Williams. They added another run as Brahiam Maldonado hit a pinch hit home run to narrow the lead 3-2. But Charlotte closed the door in the bottom of the seventh by adding an insurance run as Reid Fronk scored on a fielding error by Greg Veloz.

Darin Downs won his third game of the season by pitching 5 2/3 innings giving up 2 runs on 5 hits and striking out 2. Rayner Oliveros collected 4 strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Paul Phillips earned the save giving up no runs and striking out 3 batters in 2 innings of service. Eric Niesen was the losing pitcher for St. Lucie.

For more pictures from the game, visit my Stone Crabs/Mets game gallery.

Charlotte Stone Crabs vs St. Lucie Mets

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs extended their winning streak to three games tonight as they beat the St. Lucie Mets 3-1 at Charlotte Sports Park. The game started on a wild note as Matt Fields was hit by a pitch by Angel Calero and Jeremy Hall followed up by hitting Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Francisco Pena. But both teams quickly put it aside and went back to baseball.

The Stone Crabs got out to an early lead in the first inning Emeel Salem led off the inning with a double. Salem advanced to second on an sacrifice by Shawn O’Malley and was brought home on a fly ball by Gregory Sexton to put Charlotte ahead 1-0.

Both pitchers dueled with four scoreless frames before Charlotte put another run on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning when Matt Fields hit an RBI single to score Shawn O’Malley and put the Stone Crabs ahead 2-0. They added another run in the next inning as Reid Fronk scored on an RBI double by Stephen Vogt.

St. Lucie scored their only run on the night in the top of the eight inning as Kirk Nieuwenhuis singled to center and made it all the way around to score on the play thanks in part to a fielding error by Emeel Salem. But it was too little to late and Charlotte held on for the victory 3-1.

Jeremy Hall got the victory pitching 5 scoreless innings giving up 3 hits and striking out 2. Brian Flores threw 2 1/13 inning giving up 1 run on 4 hits. Justin Garcia picked up his first save of the season going 1 2/3 no-hit innings striking out 2. Angel Calero was the loser for St. Lucie.

For more photos from the game, visit my Stone Crabs/Mets game gallery.

Charlotte Stone Crabs vs Sarasota Reds

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs grabbed their first win at Charlotte Sports Park beating the Sarasota Reds 7-4. The Stone Crabs broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the third inning when Matt Fields hit an RBI single to score Shawn O’Malley. Then they struck again with a three run fourth inning with RBI singles by Nevin Ashley, Emeel Salem and Shawn O’Malley putting the Stone Crabs ahead 4-0.

Sarasota got on the board in the fifth inning as Daniel Perales came through with the sacrifice to score Devon Mesoraco. The Reds tied the game with a three run inning of their own in the sixth. Justin Reed hit an RBI triple to center to score Justin Reed. Yonder Alonso followed by going deep for the second time in the series, hitting a two run homer to right, tying the game 4-4.

The Stone Crabs scored the go ahead run in the bottom of the sixth as Reid Fronk delivered an RBI double to right that scored Shawn O’Malley. They Stone Crabs struck again in the eighth inning as Shawn O’Malley and Matt Fields both picked up triples in the inning and help to push across two more run giving Charlotte the win 7-4.

Jesse Darcy went 5.1 innings as the started surrendering 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits while walking 1. Justin Garcia threw one inning of scoreless baseball picking up the win. Austin Hinkle recorded his second save of the season by throwing 2.2 scoreless innings and collected 2 strikeouts. Enerio Del Rosario was the losing pitcher for Sarasota.

For more photos from the game, visit my Stone Crabs/Reds game gallery.

Charlotte Stone Crabs vs Fort Myers Miracle

Port Charlotte, Florida: Charlotte was unable to keep the Fort Myers offense grounded as they lost their third game in a row by the score of 11-6.

Fort Myers jumped all over the Stone Crabs starter David Newmann, scoring 7 runs in the second. Joe Benson and Deibinson Romero contributed to the big inning both picking up 2-RBI’s a piece with double. Fort Myers added to their lead by picking up another run in the third, taking a commanding 8-0 lead.

Charlotte got on the board in the bottom of the fourth as Ryan Royster drove in Matt Fields. Then picked up two more runs in the fifth as Emeel Salem and Gregory Sexton pick up RBI’s and narrow the margin, 8-3. BJ Upton blazed the bases, picking up 2 steals and crossed the plate for one of the runs.

Fort Myers didn’t sit quietly as they added two more runs of their own in the sixth inning. Ben Revere went deep against Craig James and Deibinson Romero drove in the second run. Fort Myers still held the lead, 10-3.

Charlotte kept digging, trying to make a comeback by pushing across three more runs in the with a two run sixth inning and another run in the seventh. Omar Luna, BJ Upton and Reid Fronk picked up the RBI’s. Bringing the score to 10-6.

Fort Myers added an insurance run in the ninth courtesy of a home run by Chris Parmelee off Austin Hinkle. They threaten again following a triple by Chris Cates, but the defense kept him from crossing the plate.

Matthew Williams (1-0) picked up the win for Fort Myers. David Newmann (0-1) was the losing pitcher going three innings, giving up 8 runs off 7 hits and walking three.

For more photos from the game, visit my Stone Crabs/Miracle game gallery.

Charlotte Stone Crabs vs Fort Myers Miracle

Port Charlotte, Florida: The inaugural season of the Charlotte Stone Crabs got off to a rough start as they lose the home opener to Fort Myers at Charlotte Sports Park.

Fort Myers got on the board first in the top of the second with an RBI double by Rene Leveret scoring Yangervis Solarte.

Charlotte battled back with a big inning in the bottom of the second. The offensive attack was lead by a solo home run by Matthew Fields, a triple by Ryan Royster, RBI single by Omar Luna, a sac fly by Shawn O’Malley and four walks given up by Tyler Robertson giving Charlotte the lead 4-1.

Fort Myers comes back with three runs in the sixth inning to tie the game 4-4 courtesy of two doubles (Steven Singleton and Deibinson Romero) and a two run home run by Chris Parmalee.

Charlotte’s bullpen fell apart in the eighth inning as Craig James surrenders 5 runs to put the Miracle up to stay. Four singles, two walks, an error and a hit batter lead to the runs. The Miracle never looked back and cruised on to the victory.

Santos Arias (1-0) was the winning pitcher and Craig James (0-1) was charged with the loss.

For more photos from Opening Day, visit my Opening Day 2009 game gallery.

Charlotte Stone Crabs

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs are the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The Stone Crabs are in the South Division of the Florida State League.

In 2008, Ripken Baseball purchased the Vero Beach Devil Rays and moved the franchise to Port Charlotte, Florida and changed the team name to the Stone Crabs. They play their home game in the newly renovated Charlotte Sports Park.

In their inaugural season in 2009, the Stone Crabs finished second in the division and earned a wild card berth into the playoff. They defeated the Fort Myers Miracle in the first round of the playoff but lost to the Tampa Yankees in the championship round.

For photos from the Stone Crabs, visit my Charlotte Stone Crabs picture page. Here you can find game photo, player photos and photos of Charlotte Sports Park.