The successful season of Matt Pearce continues on.
On Tuesday night, the Palm Beach Cardinals (21-25) squared off against the Fort Meyers Miracle (24-22) at Hammond Stadium. For the Cardinals, it was Pearce who got the start, and for the Fort Meyers, it was Tyler Jay.
Fort Meyers got on the board first in the first inning, but did so without garnering a single hit. Logan Wade started things off by walking A flyout to deep right field by Chris Paul allowed Wade to advance to second base. Pearce was able to get the very next batter, Nick Gordon, to hit a ground ball to short, but Oscar Mercado botched the fielding opportunity. Miracle manager Jeff Smith then waved Wade around third base to score, giving the Miracle a 1-0 lead.
Fortunately for Pearce and the Cardinals, that would be the only run allowed on the evening.
Palm Beach took the lead in the top of the fourth inning. With one out, Mercado singled up the middle off of Jay. Allen Staton then singled, to put runners on first and second. With Jesse Jenner at the plate, Mercado stole third base. Jenner then hit a ground ball that scored Mercado to tie the game. Michael Pritchard then singled to score Staton and made it a 2-1 game.
Jay, who dropped to 3-4 on the season, went five innings, striking out a season-high eight batters while allowing two runs. Jay walked a batter, allowing six hits as well.
The Cardinals added a run to the lead in the top of the sixth. Blake Drake started it off with a single off of Miracle pitcher Brandon Peterson. Drake then stole second and soon after advanced to third following a wild pitch. Peterson struck out Mercado, but Staton’s ground out to shortstop allowed Drake to score and make it a 3-1 game, which eventually was the final score.
Pearce earned the win for the Cardinals after going five innings and surrendering just one run on five hits (an unearned run) with a walk. It was the young pitcher’s fifth win, which leads the team.
