Lakeland wins Game 1 of the Florida State League championships

Omaha Storm Chasers 4, Toledo Mud Hens 2 (Fri)(box)

Omaha Storm Chasers 6, Toledo Mud Hens 5 (Sat)(box)

Omaha Storm Chasers 7, Toledo Mud Hens 1 (Sun)(box)

The Mud Hens got off to a good start the first two games of this series, but the Storm Chasers took it to them over the final four to win the series.

On Friday, Troy Watson gave the Hens a solid four inning start with one run allowed. The bullpen was victimized by sloppy play and the offense couldn’t string together a rally.

Ryan Vilade started the game off in style with a leadoff home run. Watson allowed a walk, a stolen base, and a single as the Storm Chasers scratched out a tying run. Things were quiet through the middle innings as the game stayed tied at 1-1.

In the sixth, Akil Baddoo singled and stole second base to start the inning. Andrew Navigato struck out, but Bligh Madris singled in Baddoo for a 2-1 lead. Unfortunately, a rough game for Eddys Leonard continued as he grounded into a double play to end the inning.

Leonard, playing second, then botched a grounder to start the bottom of the sixth. Omaha’s Nate Eaton then stole second and scored on a single to tie the game 2-2.

Chase Lee took over for the Hens in the bottom of the seventh, and a Bligh Madris error on a somewhat errant Andrew Navigato throw from third, allowed the leadoff man on. Lee walked Drew Water, then struck out Eaton, but a Nelson Velazquez double made it a 4-2 Omaha lead.

The Hens had one more good chance in the eighth when Oscar Mercado and Ryan Vilade started the inning with singles. Omaha cut down Mercado at third on an Akil Baddoo ground ball, and Navigato and Madris couldn’t come up with an RBI knock.

Vilade: 2-4, R, RBI, HR

Baddoo: 2-4, R, SB

Watson: 4.0 IP, ER, H, 2 BB, 4 K

On Saturday, Jackson Jobe made his Triple-A debut, and that didn’t go very well.

There’s going to be at least a brief acclimation process to the ball and the deeper slate of hitters. Still, while Jobe’s velocity was good, the movement on his stuff wasn’t very sharp by his standards and he made some bad pitches in swing counts throughout. An 0-2 fastball right down the middle to Devin Mann in the second was the best example, as it got crushed for a two-run home run. The Storm Chasers went on to hit several more balls hard against Jobe and he finished four innings with four runs in. Don’t overreact.

The Hens got on the board in the second when Ryan Kreidler led off with a double and scored on a Stephen Scott single. In the fifth, Bligh Madris launched a solo shot, and then Eddys Leonard doubled, scoring on a Justice Bigbie single that made it 4-3 Omaha.

In the top of the eighth, Riley Unroe singled and stole second base, and with two outs, the Storm Chasers intentionally walked Baddoo. Bad idea, as Navigato ripped a double to left and Baddoo raced all the way around to score from first behind Unroe. That swing gave the Hens a 5-4 lead.

Unfortunately, Andrew Magno got knocked around for two runs in the bottom half, and they held on to win.

Madris: 2-5, R, RBI, HR, K

Bigbie: 2-5, RBI, K

Jobe: 4.0 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 2 BB, 3 K

On Sunday, Bryan Sammons struggled and the offense just couldn’t buy a hit with runners on base. Tthe Hens bullpen got clobbered from the sixth inning on to turn a close game into a bit of a rout.

Sammons gave up two solo shots early in this one and departed in the fourth inning with his pitch count climbing. Devin Sweet settled things down through the fifth, but Mason Englert and Miguel Diaz were both knocked around pretty good in relief.

The Hens offense had baserunners on in most innings, but just couldn’t buy an extra base hit. Finally, in the seventh, Justice Bigbie singled and took second on a wild pitch. He moved to third on a Kreidler ground out, and Stephen Scott singled him home. That was all they could manage despite having eight hits to Omaha’s nine in the contest.

Scott: 3-3, RBI

Sammons (L, 6-6): 3.2 IP, 2 ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 5 K

Coming Up Next: The Hens come home to take on the Columbus Clippers to wrap up their 2024 season.

Erie SeaWolves 5, Bowie Baysox 1 (Fri)(box)

Bowie Baysox 2, Erie SeaWolves 1 (Sat)(box)

Erie SeaWolves 5, Bowie Baysox 4 (F/10)(Sun)(box)

The SeaWolves put a solid cap on their 2024 campaign by taking two of three over the weekend to split their series with the Baysox. Manager Gabe Alvarez has shepherded his club through the loss of Hao-Yu Lee, Troy Melton, and now Jackson Jobe over the past month, and yet they’re still playing good ball as they head into their divisional playoff series against the Akron RubberDucks.

On Friday, it was the Gage Workman show. The shortstop came up a single short of the cycle and also drew a walk in this one. Workman walked with two outs in the bottom of the first, and Chris Meyers followed with a single. Both scored on a Max Anderson double to right field, and it was 2-1 SeaWolves.

Carlos Pena got the start, allowing a run in the top of the first. He settled in to go five with no more runs allowed.

In the bottom of the third, Workman tripled to center field and then scored on a balk. In the fifth, he cracked a solo shot for his 18th homer of the year to make it 4-1 Erie. Liam Hicks walked and eventually scored on a wild pitch in the sixth to make it 5-1.

Trevin Michael, RJ Petit, and Brandon Seelinger were strong in relief to wrap this one up.

Workman: 3-3, 3 R, RBI, 2B, 3B, HR, BB

Anderson: 1-4, 2 RBI, 2B

Pena (W, 8-6): 5.0 IP, ER, 4 H, BB, 2 K

Wilkel Hernandez put together a solid six innings of shutout ball on Saturday, but the SeaWolves couldn’t get anything much going at the plate.

Workman walked with two outs in the bottom of the first, and Chris Meyers followed by drawing a walk as well. Liam Hicks singled in Workman, but Meyers was cut down trying to go first to third to end the inning.

The game moved swiftly to the eighth inning, where Jake Higginbotham hit the leadoff hitter, eventually allowing the tying run. Tyler Owens allowed a run in the ninth, and the SeaWolves bats were quiet in the late innings.

Murr: 2-4, 2B, K

Hernandez: 6.0 IP, 0 R, 5 H, 3 BB, 3 K

On Sunday, the Baysox took an early lead, but the SeaWolves ran them down, eventually winning in 10 innings.

Angel Reyes got the start, allowing two runs in 2 ²⁄₃ innings of work. Joel Peguero and Eric Silva quieted things down in the middle innings, and the SeaWolves began the comeback.

Chris Meyers drew a one out walk in the fourth, and an error on a Luis Santana fly ball allowed him to score to make it a 2-1 game. Brady Allen singled Santana to third, but he was caught trying to steal home on a double steal attempt.

Peyton Graham was promoted to Erie over the weekend, and he followed a Josh Crouch single in the bottom of the fifth with one of his own, with a throwing error allowing them each to advance a base. Bowie went to their bullpen, but the new reliever hit Patrick Lee to load the bases. An RBI single from Austin Murr made it a tie game, and Graham scored on a Max Anderson double play ball for a 3-2 lead.

Erie held a one-run lead going into top of the ninth, but C.J. Weins allowed the game tying run to send them to extras.

With the pitching staff thoroughly depleted and the game meaning nothing, Gabe Alvarez decided to keep his remaining arms fresh for the playoffs and used Austin Murr to pitch. That was odd, but even odder was the fact that Murr promptly caught the runner on second, Enrique Bradfield Jr., leaning off second base and picked him off. A fly out followed, but Murr then issued a walk, and that runner stole second base and scored on a single. Still, Murr got a ground out, allowing only one run. He would earn his first win as a pitcher as a result, which is kind of funny.

Murr wasn’t done either. Patrick Lee started on second base, and Murr led off the bottom half with a missile to center field for a triple, and then scored the walkoff game winner as the relay was botched. Pretty fun finish to that one. What a crazy statline for Austin Murr.

Murr: 2-4, R, 2 RBI, 3B, BB, K, CS/(W, 1-0): 1.0 IP, ER, H, BB, 0 K

Graham: 2-3, R, K

Coming Up Next: The SeaWolves best of three series with the RubberDucks in the division round starts Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. ET in Akron, before moving to Erie for Game 2 and Game 3 if necessary. The SeaWolves are looking to repeat as Eastern League champions.

Lakeland Flying Tigers 7, Palm Beach Cardinals 6 (Gm1)(box)

The Flying Tigers kicked off the Florida State League championship series with a come from behind victory over Palm Beach at home. Now they’ll need to win one of two in Palm Beach to earn Andrew Graham and his squad the title.

Cole Patten got the start and while he allowed a first inning run, he was at least effective early on. The Flying Tigers took over in the bottom of the third.

Samuel Gil led off with a single and David Smith drew a walk. Nomar Fana struck out, but Jack Penney singled in Gil. Josue Briceño singled in Smith, and Jose De La Cruz crushed an absolute moonshot to left center field to make it 5-1 Lakeland. That was De La Cruz’s 17th homer of the season, and left the bat at 108.9 mph.

Unfortunately, they stretched Patten a bridge too far (hat tip to Cornelius Ryan) and he allowed two runs in the fifth to make it a 5-3 Lakeland lead. Andrew Sears took over and promptly gave up three runs in the sixth, and the Cardinals had a one-run lead.

The Flying Tigers had two on with no outs in the sixth but couldn’t score them, and couldn’t do anything with a two-out Briceño double in the seventh either. Finally in the eighth they broke through.

Franyerber Montilla tripled with one out and scored on an Eduardo Valencia soft tapper to third that went for a single. Zach MacDonald pinch hit for the catcher and stole second base. Jackson Strong pinch hit for David Smith with two outs, and he pulled a fly ball down the right field line for a triple that scored MacDonald and made it 7-6 Lakeland.

Micah Ashman allowed a leadoff single in the ninth, but struck out two and got a fly out to earn the save and give Lakeland a 1-0 lead in the series.

Montilla: 3-4, R, 3B

Briceño: 2-3, R, RBI, 2B, BB

De La Cruz: 2-4, R, 3 RBI, HR, K

Patten: 5.0 IP, 3 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 7 K

Coming Up Next: Game 2 is set for 6:30 p.m. ET in Palm Beach on Tuesday night.