The Wandering Disciple

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs inaugural season came to an end on Wednesday night as the Stone Crabs fell to the Tampa Yankees in game five of the Florida State League Championship Season. The Yankees took the series 3-2, winning the 2009 Florida State League Championship. The game got underway after a two and a half hour rain delay. As with the previous two games, both pitchers dueled through a scoreless tie for the first few innings of the game. Tampa broke the tie in the fourth inning. David Adams led off the inning with a double to the left field corner. Brian Flores then threw away the ball on a pick-off attempt, allowing Adams to move to third. Austin Romine followed with a ground ball that scored Adams and gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Tampa struck for three more runs in the fifth inning. Luis Nunez and Jack Rye got things started with back to back singles. Then Walter Ibarra struck a double to right to score Nunez and move Rye to third. David Adams la...

Port Charlotte, Florida; The Charlotte Stone Crabs battled back to tie the FSL Championship Series by defeating the Tampa Yankees 3-1 on Tuesday night at Charlotte Sports Park. With the win, the series is now tied 2-2. The Stone Crabs were led by a dominating performance on the mound by David Newmann. Newmann pitched a no-hitter through seven innings and held the shut-out into the ninth. Charlotte broke the scoreless tie in the sixth inning. Nevin Ashley singled to right to lead off the inning. Drew Anderson drew a walk later in the inning. Greg Sexton followed with a home run to left field, giving the Stone Crabs a 3-0 lead. The Yankees tried to mount a comeback in the ninth inning. Daniel Brewer got thing started with a single to left. David Adams followed with a double to center, advancing Brewer to third. Then Damon Sublett followed with a ground ball to first that scored Brewer and moved Adams to third. Richard De Los Santos came into the game and recorded the final out...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs lost to the Tampa Yankees 3-1 on Monday night in game three of the FSL Championship Series. The lost put the Stone Crabs one game behind the Yankees 2-1 in the best of five series. Alex Cobb and DJ Mitchell dueled through five full scoreless innings. But the Yankees took the zero of the board in the top of the sixth inning. Damon Sublett reached base on a walk. Austin Romine followed with an RBI double to center that scored Sublett and gave the Yankees a 1-0 lead. Tampa added some insurance to their lead in the ninth inning, posting two more runs to the scoreboard. Once again it was Damon Sublett getting things started, this time with a single to center. Sublett then stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing error by Nevin Ashley. Austin Romine followed with an RBI double to right to score Sublett and Romine came in to score on a throwing error by John Matulia, increasing the Yankee lead to 3-0. The Stone Crabs thre...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs lost an exciting game against the Fort Myers Miracle in game one of the Florida State League South Division Finals on Tuesday night at Charlotte Sports Park. Both clubs combined for fifteen runs and twenty-five hits in the game which saw the Miracle squeak by with a 8-7 win. Fort Myers scored first in the second inning. Mark Dolenc singled to center for the first hit of the game. Joe Benson followed with double to left, moving Dolenc to third. Then Deibinson Romero drove home the run with a ground ball to short, giving the Miracle a 1-0 lead. The Stone Crabs took the lead in the fourth inning. Greg Sexton singled to center then advanced to third on a double by Henry Wrigley. Shawn Williams drew a walk to load the bases. Drew Anderson drew a bases loaded walk to push across Sexton to tie the ball game. Then Matt Sweeney followed with a ground ball to first that scored Wrigley and gave the Stone Crabs a 2-1 lead. Fort Myers stru...

Loxahatchee, Florida: Opened in 1967, Lion Country Safari is a 500 acre animal park consisting of a five mile drive-through safari and a walk-through safari featuring over 800 animals. The safari was part of a six park venture by a group of entrepreneurs from South Africa and Great Britain. The Lion Country Safari in Florida is the only location still in operation and in 2009 was voted the third best zoo in America by USA Travel Guide. Upon arrival to Lion Country Safari, you begin the five mile drive-through safari. The safari is broken into seven animal habitats representing different regions of the wild. The habitats as you approach them are: Las Pampas- the grassland habitat featuring the Brazilian Tapir, Aldabra Tortoise, Llama, Rhea, Florida Brown Pelican and Fallow Deer. Ruaha National Park-unspoiled wilderness featuring Greater Kudu, Impala and Aoudad. Kalahari Bushveldt- a dry plateau featuring Nile Lechwe and Gemsbok. Gir Forest- home to the Asiatic Water Buffalo, Nilgai...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs dropped the regular season finale to the Sarasota Reds 4-0 on Sunday evening at Charlotte Sports Park. With the loss, the Stone Crabs finished their inaugural season with an overall record of 71-66 and are headed to the playoffs. The Sarasota Reds also had a milestone of their own as they ended their franchise affiliation with Sarasota and leave the Florida State League on a winning note. Both clubs endured a scoreless pitchers duel until the fifth inning when Sarasota struck for four runs in the inning. Jordan Wideman got the scoring rally started with a single to center followed by a single by Dave Sappelt. Neftali Soto followed with an RBI double to score Wideman and move Sappelt to third. Alex Buchholz followed with a ground ball to third that scored Sappelt as Greg Sexton’s throw home was errant. Jose Gualdron then drove home two more runs with a triple that gave the Reds the 4-0 lead. After the big inning, the pitching du...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs fell to the Sarasota Reds 4-1 on Saturday night at Charlotte Sports Park. The game remained scoreless until the fourth inning when Sarasota pushed across two runs. Justin Reed and Alex Buchholz led off the inning with back to back singles. Then Neftali Soto reached on an error by Matt Hall on a misplayed double play ball that loaded the bases for Sarasota. Denis Phipps singled to right to score Reed. Then Kyle Day hit a sac fly to center to score Buchholz and give the Reds a 2-0 lead. Sarasota added to their lead in the top of the sixth inning. Alex Buchholz led of the inning by drawing a walk. Denis Phipps followed with a two run home run to increase the Sarasota lead 4-0. The Stone Crabs scored their only run of the night in the eighth inning. Emeel Salem singled to short to lead off the inning. John Matulia later followed with a single to right, moving Salem to second. Shawn Williams drew a walk to load the bases. Greg ...