The Wandering Disciple

Sarasota, Florida: The Gulf Coast Rays shut-out the Gulf Coast Orioles 3-0 on Friday afternoon at the Ed Smith Sports Complex. The Rays secured the win on a long ball by Matt Fields, his second during his brief stint with the GCL Rays. Fields is with the club working the kinks out of his newest weapon, the ability to hit left handed. The Rays broke the scoreless tie in the third inning. Craige Lyerly singled to left to put a runner aboard. Lyerly then stole second and later scored on an RBI single by Justin O’Conner to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. They Rays added a run to their total in the fifth inning. Luke Bailey, Julian Morillo and Lyerly all singled to load the bases. Juniel Querecuto then hit into a double play, allowing Bailey to score and increase the lead to 2-0. The Rays picked up an insurance run in the top of the eighth inning. Fields struck a solo home run to give them the 3-0 margin of victory. This was Fields second home run from the left side of the dish, with t...

Port Charlotte, Florida: It was the longest game in franchise history with 19 innings of baseball being played on Monday night at Charlotte Sports Park. When the dust settled over five hours from the first pitch, the Charlotte Stone Crabs fell to the Daytona Cubs 4-3. The evening marked the return of Rocco Baldelli the Tampa Bay organization after being signed to a minor league contract earlier on Monday. Baldelli started as the designated hitter for the Stone Crabs during the marathon game. The loss was the Stone Crabs fifth consecutive loss. Daytona jumped out to an early lead in the fist inning. DJ LeMahieu doubled to right then later advanced to third on a wild pitch. LeMahieu then scored on a single by Ryan Flaherty. Michael Brenly followed with a single to center. Kyler Burke drove home both runners with a double to center, giving the Cubs a 3-0 lead. The Stone Crabs added a run of their own in the bottom of the first. Tim Beckham doubled to left to get things started. ...

Tampa, Florida: The newest additions to Lowry Park Zoo, Safari Africa brings the animals of the safari right to the west coast of Florida. The region became more diverse with the addition of the Ituri Forest, making it one of the most realistic African experience available. Safari Africa is the largest portion of the park. The vast savannah is home to some of the parks more popular residents. Here you will find elephants, camels, zebras, gazelles, African penguins, rhinos, giraffes and more. You also have the ability to interact with some of the animals of the safari by feeding the giraffes and white rhinos or take a ride on the back of a Dromedary camel. The Ituri Forest portion of Safari Africa is an animal habitat developed to represent the dense rainforest found along the Congo River. Along the trail you will encounter cheetahs, okapi, pygmy hippos and red river hogs. Two of the parks rides can also be found in Safari Africa. Here you can board the Safari Ride, a fifteen m...

Sarasota, Florida: The Gulf Coast Rays fell to the Gulf Coast Orioles 4-1 on Tuesday afternoon on the back fields at Ed Smith Stadium. The Orioles took the lead in the bottom of the first inning. Brian Roberts, on an MLB rehab assignment, led off the inning with a single to center. Pedro Rodriguez then hit into a force out, losing Roberts at second but leaving Rodriguez on first. Rodriguez then advanced to this on a single by Dudley Leonora. Preston Hale drove home the run with a sac fly that scored Rodriguez and gave them a 1-0 lead. The Rays fought back to tie the game in the third inning. Cesar Perez and Julian Morillo led off the inning with back to back walks. Edward Dorville followed with a single to right to load the bases. Joel Caminero then plated a run with an RBI single to right to tie the game 1-1. The Orioles wasted no time in regaining the lead, posting a run in the bottom half of the third. Martin Serrata doubled to right then later scored on an RBI single by L...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs defeated the St. Lucie Mets 5-4 on Sunday at Charlotte Sports Park. The Stone Crabs rallied from a four run deficit to win the game in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Mets took the lead in the first inning. Juan Lagares drew a walk to get things started. Lagares stole second then later scored on an RBI single by Stefan Welch to take a 1-0 lead. St. Lucie added to their lead in the second inning with a solo home run by Richard Lucas. The blast increased the lead to 2-0. St. Lucie continued to show their power in the fifth inning with two more home runs. Lucas collected his second home run of the game followed by a solo home run by Jordany Valdespin to give them a commanding 4-0 lead. The Stone Crabs took the zero off the board in a big way in the sixth inning. Anthony Scelfo opened the inning with a triple to center. Scelfo scored an inning later on a single by Chris Murrill. Murrill stole second then moved to third on a si...

The Gulf Coast Rays lost to the Gulf Coast Twins 7-3 on a soggy Monday afternoon at the Charlotte Sports Complex. A bullpen collapse lead to four runs in the ninth combined with five errors resulted in the Rays suffering the loss. The Rays scored first in the third inning. Julian Morillo drew a walk to lead off the inning. Morillo advanced to second on a wild pitch. Then Edward Dorville tripled to center to score Morillo. Dorville would then score on a double by Joel Caminero to give the Rays a 2-0 lead. The Twins cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth. Max Kepler-Rozycki reached on a throwing error to put a runner on base. Then Nicholas Tindall doubled to center, scoring the runner and pulling to within a run of the lead 2-1. The Twins tied the game in the sixth. Eddie Rosario reached on error, followed by Kennys Vargas reaching on a catcher's interference call against Justin O'Connor. Rosario then stole third and later scored on a passed ball to tie the game 2-2. The T...

Fort Myers, Florida: The Gulf Coast League Twins are the rookie league affiliate of the Minnesota Twins. The GCL Twins play in the Southern Division of the Gulf Coast League. The GCL Twins began play in 1991. There home games are played the Lee County Sports Complex in Fort Myers, the spring training home of the Minnesota Twins. The roster is comprised of entry level baseball players and rehabbing major league players. They have yet to win a GCL title but have won the south division crown twice, in 2007 and 2009. For photos from the club, visit my GCL Twins photo page. Here you will find game photos and player pictures.

Sarasota, Florida: The Gulf Coast Rays defeated the Gulf Coast Orioles 3-2 on a dreary Friday afternoon in Sarasota. The light rainy condition could not keep Julian Morillo from scoring as he accounted for all three of the Rays runs. The Rays scored first in the third inning. Morillo drew a walk to lead off the inning. Morillo advanced to second on a ground ball by Cristian Vasquez then later scored on an RBI single by Joel Caminero to take a 1-0 lead. The Rays scored again in the seventh inning. Morillo let things of with a single to center. Morillo advanced to second on a wild pitch and then to third on an error. Edward Dorville plated the run with a sac fly to increase the lead to 2-0. The Orioles fought back to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh. Jonathan Schoop and Preston Hale delivered back to back singles to lead off the inning. Then Xavier Lopez drove them home with a two run double to tie the game. The Rays pushed across the winning run in the top of the ninth inning....

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Gulf Coast League Rays are the rookie league affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The GCL Rays are in the southern division of the Gulf Coast League. The club began their existence in 1996 as the Gulf Coast League Devil Rays. They played in St. Petersburg until 1998 when the team was disbanded. They won the division title in their final season in the league. The team was reborn in 2009 in conjunction with the Rays moving their spring training operations to Port Charlotte, Florida. The GCL Rays began play in 2009 on the backfields of Charlotte Sports Complex with a handful of games to be played inside Charlotte Sports Park. The GCL Rays play a short-season schedule that runs from late June through August. The roster is comprised of entry level players from the amateur draft and undrafted free agents as well as some major league players on rehab assignments. For photos from the club, visit my GCL Rays photo page. Here you will find game photos and pla...