Charlotte Stone Crabs vs Palm Beach Cardinals

Port Charlotte, Florida: With a packed house and owner Cal Ripken in attendance, the Charlotte Stone Crabs began their title defense in winning fashion by defeating the Palm Beach Cardinals 4-2 on Opening Day at Charlotte Sports Park.

The Stone Crabs took the lead early in the second inning on a solo home run by Matt Sweeney to give the Stone Crabs a 1-0 lead.

Palm Beach tied the game in the third inning. Chris Swauger doubled to right field. Tony Cruz then singled to left, scoring Swauger to tie the game 1-1.

The game would remain tied until the bottom of the fourth when the Stone Crabs struck for two runs. Matt Sweeney led off the inning with a walk, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jake Jefferies singled to right, moving Sweeney to third and giving the Stone Crabs runners on the corners. Michael Sheridan drove home the go ahead run with a double to right that scored Sweeney. Jefferies later scored on sac fly by Reid Fronk to give the Stone Crabs a 3-1 lead.

The Cardinals pulled to within a run of the lead in the sixth inning. Osvaldo Morales, Richard Racobaldo and Xavier Scruggs delivered consecutive singles to load the bases with one out. Morales scored on a wild pitch by Dane De La Rosa. But De La Rosa recovered to strike out the remaining two hitters and get out of the inning with the lead intact 3-2.

The Stone Crabs posted an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth inning. Kyeong Kang drew a walk to lead off the inning. Henry Wrigley followed with an RBI double to left, scoring Kang and giving the Stone Crabs a 4-2 opening day victory, first in franchise history.

For photos from opening day, visit my Stone Crabs/Cardinals photo gallery.

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