The Wandering Disciple

A crested Caracara sits on a fence post in Eastern Sarasota County looking for its next meal.  (Photo: July 18, 2011)

Rally Gator gets the crowd into the game at Ed Smith Stadium.  Rally Gator was the mascot of the Sarasota Reds during their time in Sarasota.  The team played in the Florida State League until the Reds moved their operations to Arizona in 2010.  (Photo: July 14, 2007)

Tyler Norrick of the Palm Beach Cardinals delivers the pitch against the Sarasota Reds during a minor league game during the summer of 2007. (Photo: June 30, 2007)

Sarasota Reds first baseman Jeremiah Piepkorn holds Vero Beach Devil Rays baserunner Sergio Pedroza close to the bag during a minor league baseball game at Ed Smith Stadium.  (Photo: June 2, 2007)

Sarasota Reds first baseman plays under the lights at Ed Smith Stadium during a minor league baseball game.  Ballparks throughout the country come to life with exciting baseball action all summer long as the boys of summer work their way up the ladder trying to make the majors.  (Photo: May 11, 2007)

The worn out look of the old Ed Smith Stadium back in 2007 when it was the Florida operations for the Cincinnati Reds.  The stadium hosted the Cincinnati Reds for spring training, the Sarasota Reds of the Florida State League and the Gulf Coast Reds of the Gulf Coast League until they moved operations to Arizona.  The stadium then underwent a major face lift before becoming the Florida home for the Baltimore Orioles.  (Photo: January 31, 2007)

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 ...

Sarasota, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs were on the winning side of a pitching duel during game one of Saturday’s doubleheader against the Sarasota Reds at Ed Smith Stadium. It took ten innings to determine the winner but in the end it was the Stone Crabs picking up the 1-0 victory. The Stone Crabs broke the scoreless tie in the top of the tenth inning. Omar Luna kicked off the scoring drive with a single to center. Luna then advanced second on a wild pitch and then scored the winning run on a throwing error by Reds third baseman Neftali Soto. Alex Cobb pitched 7 shut-out innings and allowed 5 hits while striking out 2 and walking 2. Richard De Los Santos picked up the win by throwing 3 no-hit innings and recorded 5 strikeouts. Justin Freeman was the losing pitcher for Sarasota. For photos from the game, click on the above photo or go to my Stone Crabs/Reds photo page.

Sarasota, Florida: The Sarasota Reds fell to the St. Lucie Mets 10-4 on Thursday night at Ed Smith Stadium. The game was kicked off by Sarasota pitcher Mark Pawelek performing the national anthem on his guitar. But that was the highlight of the night for the Reds as the Mets dominated the rest of the game. St. Lucie took the lead in the first inning. Kirk Nieuwenhuis and Reese Havens led off the game with back to back singles. Nieuwenhuis then advanced to third as Zach Lutz grounded into a double play. Carlos Guzman followed with an RBI single to score Nieuwenhuis and give the Mets a 1-0 lead. The Mets added another run in the second inning. Stefan Welch singled to lead off the inning and Brahiam Maldonado followed with a walk to but two runners on base. Seth Williams advanced both runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Then Welch scored on a sac fly by Hector Pellot to advance the Mets lead 2-0. Sarasota reached the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning....

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 ...

Sarasota, Florida: The Sarasota Red defeated the Clearwater Thresher 3-1 on Wednesday afternoon during Camp Day at Ed Smith Stadium. The Reds took the lead in third inning. Jake Kahaulelio singled to short to get things started. Kahaulelio then stole second to move into scoring position. Denis Phipps then drove him home with an RBI single to left, giving Sarasota a 1-0 lead. Sarasota added two more runs to their lead in the fifth inning. Justin Tordi drew a walk to put a runner on the base path. Mariekson Gregorius then singled on a bunt, moving Tordi to second. Jake Kahaulelio followed with a double to right, scoring Tordi. Kel Jones drove home the second run of the inning with a sac fly to score Gregorius and give Sarasota a 3-0 lead. Clearwater picked up their only run of the game in the eighth inning. Joel Naughton singled to lead off the inning. Yonderman Rodriguez followed with a walk and Javis Diaz later singled to center to load the bases. Fidel Hernandez drove home...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs grabbed their first win at Charlotte Sports Park beating the Sarasota Reds 7-4. The Stone Crabs broke the scoreless tie in the bottom of the third inning when Matt Fields hit an RBI single to score Shawn O’Malley. Then they struck again with a three run fourth inning with RBI singles by Nevin Ashley, Emeel Salem and Shawn O’Malley putting the Stone Crabs ahead 4-0. Sarasota got on the board in the fifth inning as Daniel Perales came through with the sacrifice to score Devon Mesoraco. The Reds tied the game with a three run inning of their own in the sixth. Justin Reed hit an RBI triple to center to score Justin Reed. Yonder Alonso followed by going deep for the second time in the series, hitting a two run homer to right, tying the game 4-4. The Stone Crabs scored the go ahead run in the bottom of the sixth as Reid Fronk delivered an RBI double to right that scored Shawn O’Malley. They Stone Crabs struck again in the eighth innin...

Sarasota, Florida: The Sarasota Reds were swept by the Dunedin Blue Jays following a 3-0 loss on Sunday afternoon to wrap up the 2008 season. Dunedin wasted no time taking the lead, striking for a run in the top of the first. Brad Wilkerson doubled to right to lead off the inning. Wilkerson scored on a double by Anthony Hatch to take a 1-0 lead. The Blue Jays added to their lead in the sixth inning. David Corrente doubled to left to lead off the inning. Luis Sanchez reached on an error followed by a walk to Wilkerson to load the bases. Marcos Cabral drew a bases loaded walk to push across the first run of the inning. A second run came on a wild pitch by Terrell Young to give the Blue Jays a 3-0 win. Click on the photo above to view the Reds/Blue Jays gallery.

Sarasota, Florida: The Sarasota Reds suffered a 7-1 loss to the Dunedin Blue Jays on Saturday night at Ed Smith Stadium. Dunedin jumped out to an early lead in the first inning. Brad Wilkerson went deep with a solo home run to lead off the game. Then the rain came and the tarp was pulled with the Jays leading 1-0 in the first. Play resumed after a 25 minute delay and the Blue Jays offense continued right where they left off. In the top of the third Wilkerson led off the inning with a double to center. He later scored on a double by David Cooper to increase the lead to 2-0. The Reds pushed across their only run in the bottom of the third. The inning got started with single by Jake Long, Jose Castro and Carson Kainer to load the bases. Yonder Alonso plated a run with a single to right. But the Reds left the bases load as they cut the lead in half 2-1. The Blue Jays got a solo run in the fourth and another in the firth to help extend the lead. Then in the sixth they pushed acros...

Sarasota, Florida: The Sarasota Reds rallied late but were unable to defeat the Dunedin Blue Jays, losing 4-3 on Friday evening. The Reds took the lead in the first inning. Logan Parker struck an RBI double to center that scored Todd Frazier to give the Reds a 1-0 lead. But Dunedin bounced back to take the lead in the fifth inning. Chris Emanuele hit a triple to left to lead off the inning. Then Anthony Hatch cleared the bases with a two run homer to give the Blue Jays a 2-1 lead. The Blue Jays added to their lead in the seventh inning. Brad Wilkerson doubled to right with two outs to put a runner in scoring position. Wilkerson then scored on a single by Marcos Cabral to increase the lead to 3-1. The Frazier/Parker connection struck again in the eighth for the Reds. Frazier drew a walk and later advanced to second on a wild pitch. Parker drove him home with a line drive to right to pull the Reds within a run of the lead 3-2. But Dunedin posted an insurance run an inning later....

Sarasota, Florida: The Sarasota Reds and Lakeland Flying Tigers faced off in a pitchers duel on Saturday night at Ed Smith Stadium. Both pitching staffs went through the entire nine inning regulation period without allowing a run and it took fifteen innings to determine a winner. But when it was all over, over four hours later, the Reds walked off with a 3-2 victory. Pitching was the name of the game tonight. Both staffs pitched 11 consecutive innings before allowing a run. It wasn’t until the fourth inning before a base hit was allowed. There was a total of 34 strikeouts combined between both clubs who used a total of thirteen pitcher in the game. The Flying Tigers scored the first run of the game in the top of the twelfth inning. Justin Justice singled to third to put a runner on the bases. Justin would later score on an RBI single by Brandon Timm to take a 1-0 lead. The Reds answered back with a run of their own in the home half of the inning. Carson Kainer singled to left...

Sarasota, Florida: The Sarasota Reds picked up a big win against the Brevard County Manatees on Saturday night at Ed Smith Stadium. The Reds beat the Manatees 7-1. The Reds struck first in the first inning. Jake Kahaulelio homered to center to lead of the game. Jose Castro then singled to right followed by a walk to Todd Frazier. Carson Kainer drove home two runs with a double to left. Kainer later scored on a single by Justin Tordi to give the Reds a 4-0 lead. The Reds picked up three more runs in the bottom of the third. Frazier singled on a line drive to left to lead the inning. Chris Heisey followed with a walk. Jason Louwsma cleared the bases with a three run homer to increase the lead to 7-0. The Manatees got their only run of the game in the fourth inning. Darren Ford walked to lead the inning. Ford moved to third on a double by Brent Brewer. Taylor Green then drew a walk to load the bases. Chuck Caufield was hit by a pitch to push Ford across the plate for the only...

Lakeland, Florida: The Sarasota Reds defeated the Lakeland Flying Tigers 8-2 as they hosted their annual Kids Camp Day on Wednesday afternoon at Ed Smith Stadium. Kids from area summer camps packed the stadium to watch the Reds post a big eighth inning to secure the win despite major league baseball star Gary Sheffield being in the Flying Tigers lineup. The Reds jumped out to an early lead in the second inning on a solo home run by Juan Francisco to put them ahead 1-0. The Flying Tigers then countered with two runs of their own in the fifth inning to take the lead. Jeramy Laster singled to left to lead off the inning. Michael Bertram followed with an RBI double to right, scoring Laster. Bertram would later score on an RBI single by Shawn Roof to give the Flying Tigers a 2-1 lead. Sarasota regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning. Drew Stubbs led off the inning with a line drive single to center. Carson Kainer then reached on an interference call to put runners on f...