The Wandering Disciple

Sarasota, Florida: The GCL Orioles fell to the GCL Red Sox on Wednesday afternoon at the Ed Smith Sports Complex. It took four innings for someone to break through the zeros but when it was over, it was the Red Sox taking the 6-1 win. It wasn’t until the fifth inning until the Red Sox reached the scoreboard. Jose Vinicio led off the inning with a single to right. Henry Ramos followed with a triple to center that scored Vinicio. Ramos would later score on a sac fly by Kendrick Perkins to give them a 2-0 lead. The Red Sox added to their lead in the top of the sixth inning. Luke Yoder drew a walk with one out to get things going. Yoder moved into scoring position by stealing second. Trygg Danforth drove home the run with an RBI double to increase the lead to 3-0. The Orioles pushed across their lone run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Riley Hornback drew a walk followed by Michael Mosby being hit by a pitch. Rojean Cleofa then drove home the run with a ground ball that sc...

Sarasota, Florida: The GCL Rays took over sole possession of first place in the division with a shut-out victory on Friday the Thirteenth. The 4-0 win was enough to give the Rays a one game advantage in the division as we near the end of the regular season. The Rays broke the scoreless tie in the top of the third inning. Luke Bailey hit a solo home run over the right field wall to give the Rays a 1-0 lead. The Rays offense would not score again until the top of the ninth inning when they struck for three runs in the inning. Justin O’Conner led off the inning with a walk then moved to third on a sac bunt followed by a wild pitch. Cesar Perez then drew a walk followed by Julian Morillo reaching on an fielder’s choice with O’Conner out at home on the play. An intentional walk to Bailey loaded the bases for the Rays. Edward Dorville drove home the first run of the inning with an RBI single to score Perez. Morillo then scored on a wild pitch followed by Bailey scoring on an error t...

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...

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...

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....

Sarasota, Florida: For over twenty years, Ed Smith Stadium has played host to every level of baseball from high school to professional as well as hosted concerts, circuses and even political rallies. The tradition of baseball nearly came to an end, but a last minute vote by local government saved the tradition and brought with it a multi-million dollar renovation to the ballpark. Today the facility is the spring training home of the Baltimore Orioles. Built in 1989, Ed Smith Stadium features seating for 7,500 people. The stadium has been the spring training home to the Chicago White Sox, Cincinnati Reds and most recently the Baltimore Orioles. During the summer and fall, the stadium has hosted a minor league baseball team as well as high school and amateur tournaments. When baseball is not in season, the stadium offers its grounds for the Sarasota Blue Festival, Circus Sarasota and during the 2009 elections was the site of Barack Obama’s Sarasota rally. 1989-1997: Chicago White Sox (m...