The Wandering Disciple

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs were swept by the Tampa Yankees after being shut-out 7-0 on Wednesday night at Charlotte Sports Park. The Yankees posted their first run in the second inning as Seth Fortenberry led off with a triple to left. Luis Nunez followed with a sac fly to drive home Fortenberry and give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The Yankees struck for two more in the third. Daniel Brewer and Matt Cusick got it going with back to back singles with both runners advancing into scoring position on a throwing error by Omar Luna. David Adams then drove home the first run of the inning with a sac fly to score Brewer. Damon Sublett drew a walk to put runners at first and second. Cusick and Sublett then pulled a double steal with Cusick later scoring on a wild pitch by Alex Cobb to put Tampa ahead 3-0. The Yankees then got another run in the sixth off a sac fly by Walter Ibarra to score Luis Nunez. The Tampa offense kept producing into the seventh inning as they s...

Estero, Florida: In 1894, Cyrus Teed ventured into rural southern Florida to establish a “New Jerusalem”, a utopia for the followers of Koreshanity. The utopia became known as the Koreshan Unity and was a was a self preserving society until the early 1900’s. Teed was an eclectic physician who in 1869 suffered an electrical shock during an experiment which rendered him unconscious. While unconscious, Teed believed he had a divine inspiration and was the messiah of a new religious belief. He changed his name to Koresh which is Hebrew for Cyrus and began spreading the beliefs of Koreshanity. The beliefs of Koreshanity revolved around the core belief of Cellular Cosmogony. They believed the earth and universe were contained inside a sphere known as a cell. They spent much of their time doing science experiments trying to prove this theory. They also believed in reincarnation, immortality, alchemy, communism and celibacy. Teed began preaching his beliefs in New York. The followers ...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs tried to mount a comeback in the late innings but fell short a run in a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Yankees Sunday evening at Charlotte Sports Park. Tampa’s big first inning doomed the Stone Crabs as they managed to out hit the Yankees 11-4 and only allowed one hit outside the first inning, but still fell short. Tampa struck first, tagging rehabbing Jake McGee for three runs in the first inning. Daniel Brewer singled to center to start the game. Brewer advanced to second on a sac bunt by Matt Cusick and then to third on a wild pitch. Austin Romaine followed with an RBI single to score Brewer. Brandon Laird then cleared the bases with a homer to put the Yankees ahead 3-0. Tampa and Charlotte went out to out for the next six innings with neither team able to plate a run. But that all ended in the bottom of the eighth inning when the Stone Crabs took the zero off the board. Omar Luna and Shawn Riggans delivered back to back singles to s...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs were shut out by the Clearwater Threshers by the score of 2-0 on Friday night at Charlotte Sports Park. Both clubs starting pitchers, Charlotte’s Brian Flores and Clearwater’s Darren Byrd, dueled through five shutout innings before the scoreless tie was broken. But in the top of the sixth inning, Clearwater was able to take the zero off the board by producing two runs in the inning. Michael Durant got the inning going with a single to left. Durant was then driven home on an RBI triple by Cody Overbeck. Fidel Hernandez followed with a single to left that scored Overbeck. Clearwater’s pitching remained strong as they kept Charlotte off the scoreboard and gave the Threshers a 2-0 win. Brian Flores turn in an quality start, pitching 5 shutout innings allowing 5 hits and striking out 3 in the no decision. Justin Garcia came into the game in relief and was charged with the loss as he surrendered 2 runs on 3 hits while striking out 1 a...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs swept the Jupiter Hammerheads by winning 4-2 on Friday night at Charlotte Sports Park. Jupiter got on the scoreboard first in the third inning. Miguel Fermin led off the inning with a single to short. Fermin stole second and advanced to third on a ground out by Osvaldo Martinez. Greg Burns followed with a sac fly to left to score Fermin and give the Hammerheads a 1-0 lead. The lead held until the sixth inning when things fell apart for the Hammerheads and the Stone Crabs took advantage, striking for four runs in the inning. The inning started with a lead off double by Shawn Riggans. Henry Wrigley followed with an RBI single to right to score Riggans and tie the game. Ryan Royster was next to reach on a fielding error by Jupiter’s Luis Ott. John Matulia then delivered an RBI double to score Wrigley and move Royster to third. Ryan Royster then scored after being caught in a run down following Mike McCormick’s grounder, Royster ...

Jupiter, Florida: The Jupiter Hammerheads are the A-Advanced affiliate of the Florida Marlins. The Hammerheads are in the South Division of the Florida State League. The club was founded in 1998 as a Montreal Expos affiliate. Then in 2002, the clubs affiliation transferred to the Florida Marlins. The Hammerheads play their home games at Roger Dean Stadium, a shared facility with the Palm Beach Cardinals. For more photos of the Hammerheads, visit my Jupiter Hammerheads photo page. Here you can find game photos and player photos.

Sarasota, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs fell to the Sarasota Reds by the score of 6-1 on Saturday night at Ed Smith Stadium. The Reds hit the scoreboard first in the second inning. Neftali Soto lead off the inning with a double to center and later scored on an RBI single by Jason Louwsma to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. The Stone Crabs battled back to tie the game in the top of the fourth. Henry Wrigley singled to left and Cody Cipriano was hit by a pitch to give the Stone Crabs runners on first and second. John Matulia followed with a line drive single to score Wrigley and tie the game at 1. The Reds struck for four runs in the bottoms of the sixth to distance themselves from the Stone Crabs. The inning got started with a single by Neftali Soto who later scored on an RBI double by Jake Kahaulelio. Jason Louwsma followed with an RBI single to score Kahaulelio. Jose Gualdron then delivered a single to center to put two runners onboard for the Reds. Justin Tordi singled home Lo...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs rallied from a two run deficit in the late innings to defeat the Sarasota Reds 5-2 Sunday evening at Charlotte Sports Park. Sarasota scored first in the top of the third inning. The Reds led off the inning with back to back singles by Jose Gualdron and Justin Tordi. Justin Reed followed with a line drive down the first base line that was misplayed by Cody Cipriano allowing Gualdron to score. Tordi tried to come home on a wild pitch by Jeremy Hall but was out at the plate thanks to a great play by catcher Christian Lopez recovering the ball and flipping it back to Hall for the out. Sarasota posted their second run of the night in the sixth inning. Denis Phipps got things going with a double and was later drove home by a single from the bat of Neftali Soto. Sarasota now held a 2-0 lead. But they lead would quickly diminish as the Stone Crabs battled back to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth. Henry Wrigley led off the inning ...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The post game fireworks show was not the only thing exploding in front of the record crowd of 7,340 at Charlotte Sports Park, the explosive offense of the Charlotte Stone Crabs put nine runs on the scoreboard enroute to a 9-2 victory over the Fort Myers Miracle on Saturday night. The Stone Crabs celebrated Independence Day by wearing special edition red, white and blue uniforms and wasted no time getting things going by putting three runs on the board n the second inning. Ryan Royster got things started with a single to center and then advanced to second on a balk by Fort Myers pitcher Steve Hirschfeld. Reid Fronk drew a walk. Royster was eliminated on a force out at third on the following play as Ian Paxton grounded into a force out, but the Stone Crabs still had runners at first and second. Omar Luna followed with a single to right to score Fronk. Matt Hall singled home Luna and then later scored on an RBI single by Shawn O’Malley to give the Stone Cra...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs fell to the Brevard County Manatees in game one of Thursday’s doubleheader at Charlotte Sports Park. The Stone Crabs took an early lead in the first inning off an RBI single by Cody Cipriano to score John Matulia. Cipriano later scored on a Henry Wrigley single and the Stone Crabs took a 2-0 lead. The Manatees came back to take the lead in the top of the second inning. Caleb Gindl and Eric Farris led off the inning with back to back singles. Zelous Wheeler advanced the runners on a sacrifice bunt. Sergio Miranda followed with a two run double to right field. Logan Schafer singled home Miranda for the third run of the inning and Brevard County took the lead 3-2. The Manatees added four more runs to their lead in the third inning. Zelous Wheeler drove home two runs with a single to right that scored Steffan Wilson and Caleb Gindl. Sergio Miranda followed with a single that scored Eric Farris. Then it was Carlos Corporan to drive...