Flying Tigers Outlast Hammerheads in 15 innings

By DAVID YATES
LEDGER CORRESPONDENT

            JUPITER—The Flying Tigers used a four-hit night from Tyler Collins, a clutch triple from Hernan Perez, and remarkable defense to pull even in the Florida State League Championship Series by outlasting Jupiter, 8-7, in a 15-inning, tension-packed baseball playoff marathon on Saturday night.
            Luis Castillo entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the 15th, singled, was sacrificed to second by Curt Casali, and scored the game-winner when Hernan Perez tripled into the gap in left center.
            Tied at one game apiece, the best-of-five series now shifts to Joker Marchant Stadium for game 3 today at 5 p.m. Game 4 will be played at Marchant Monday at 6:30, and if five games are necessary to decide the championship, the finale will be played at Marchant Tuesday night at 6:30.
            Lakeland used eight pitchers and 11 position players in the 4-hour, 45-minute game, with Cesar Carrillo earning the win.
            Jupiter used seven pitchers and 12 position players, with Tyler Higgins absorbing the loss. The game was played before a crowd of 613 at Roger Dean Stadium, most of whom stayed until the very end.
            The FSL record book does not include the lengths of playoff games so it is uncertain whether this was the longest in league history in terms of time or innings.
            Perhaps the most remarkable statistic of the night was the zero in the errors column for the Flying Tigers. Lakeland’s top-ranked defense, anchored by its magnificent middle infield combination of  Dixon Machado at short and Perez at second, made play after play, several of major league caliber and some of which drew appreciative applause from the partisan crowd.
            “Our defense has been doing the job for us all season and it’s a shame that although Machado and Perez were both the top fielders at their position neither made the All-Star team,” Lakeland Manager Dave Huppert said.
            Friday Lakeland had nearly erased a 6-0 deficit by scoring five runs over the final three innings, and Saturday the Flying Tigers came out swinging again in Game 2. Collins fueled Lakeland’s 15-hit attack by tripling, doubling twice, singling, scoring once and driving in a pair.
            Lakeland forged a 7-3 lead in the fifth when the 22-year-old Texas outfielder bashed an RBI triple and Wade Gaynor followed with a two-run homer that bounced off the top of the left field wall, the only home run either team hit in games 1 and 2.
             But the Hammerheads, who finished second to the Flying Tigers in team batting, did not give up against a normally solid Lakeland bullpen.
            The Miami Marlins FSL affiliate scored three in the home half of the fifth to make it a one-run game, and pulled even in the bottom of the ninth to prolong matters.
            Christian Yelich, who led off the ninth with a walk, raced all the way home from second on a two-out infield hit by J. T. Realmuto to spoil Matt Crouse’s efforts to seal the win. Ironically, the hit ricocheted off the pitching mound just inches from Crouse’s glove to Machado, who threw to first trying to nip Realmuto while Yelich scored.
            Each bullpen then kept the game scoreless until Perez’s big hit in the 15th. Melvin Mercedes used his 98 MPH fastball to fire three innings of one-hit relief for Lakeland, while Dan Stone, Raudel Lazo, Jordan Conley, and Rett Varner combined for 10 shutout innings against the Flying Tigers.
            Luis Angel Sanz, arguably Lakeland’s most consistent starter in the second half, is expected to oppose Jupiter right-hander Jose Fernandez in tonight’s battle at Marchant.