The Wandering Disciple

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Stone Crabs watched an early lead slip away but used a big sixth inning to defeat the Tampa Yankees on Saturday night at Charlotte Sports Park. The Stone Crabs took an early lead in the second inning. Marty Gantt doubled to left to lead off the inning. He moved to third following a single by Mike Marjama. Gantt then scored on a ground ball by Maxx Tissenbaum to give the Stone Crabs a 1-0 lead. Tampa battled back to take the lead an inning later. They led off the inning with back to back singles by Vicente Conde and Derek Toadvine. Mark Payton tied the game with an RBI single to score Conde. Toadvine later score the go ahead run on a sac fly by Tyler Wade to give the Yankees a 2-1 lead. The Stone Crabs trailed until the sixth inning when they sent ten hitters to the plate in a six run frame. Tissenbaum, Braxton Lee, Juniel Querecuto, Kean Wong, and Jake Bauers all collected RBI’s to put the Stone Crabs in front to stay 7-1. Click on the photo above...

Bradenton, Florida: After a brief rain delay caused by the Floridian liquid sunshine, Thursday’s game between the Bradenton Marauders and Tampa Yankees got underway just 45 minutes behind schedule. When play started, it would be the Marauders who would walk away with a 4-0 shut-out win before the home crowd. The Marauders broke the scoreless tie in the fourth inning. Jonathan Schwind doubled home Walker Gourley for a 1-0 lead. The Marauders sent seven men to the plate in the seventh, scoring three more runs to give them a 4-0 win over the Yankees. Chad Kuhl picked up the win and Jhondaniel Medina notched the save for Bradenton. Chaz Hebert was the losing pitcher for Tampa. Click on the photo above to view my Marauders/Yankees photo gallery.

Bradenton, Florida: The Bradenton Marauders rode the momentum of a five run third inning to help defeat the Tampa Yankees 8-1 on Friday night at McKechnie Field in Bradenton. Adenson Chourio made his first start as a Marauder by going 2 for 4 with a run scored. Tony Sanchez and Quincy Latimore also recorded multiple hits with Sanchez getting three hits and Latimore 2 hits with 3 RBI’s/ The Marauders broke the scoreless tie in the third inning with their huge five run performance. Austin McClune and Chourio led off the inning with back to back singles. Then Brock Holt singled to left field to score McClune for the first run of the game. Both runners advanced into scoring position thanks to a sac bunt by Robbie Grossman. Latimore then drove home two runs with a double to left field. Latimore would later score on a ground ball by Jeremy Farrell. Eric Fryer plated the final run with a single to left that scored Sanchez and gave the Marauders a 5-0 lead. The Yankees scored their o...

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 were swept by the Tampa Yankees after being shut-out 7-0 on Wednesday night at Charlotte Sports Park. The Yankees posted their first run in the second inning as Seth Fortenberry led off with a triple to left. Luis Nunez followed with a sac fly to drive home Fortenberry and give the Yankees a 1-0 lead. The Yankees struck for two more in the third. Daniel Brewer and Matt Cusick got it going with back to back singles with both runners advancing into scoring position on a throwing error by Omar Luna. David Adams then drove home the first run of the inning with a sac fly to score Brewer. Damon Sublett drew a walk to put runners at first and second. Cusick and Sublett then pulled a double steal with Cusick later scoring on a wild pitch by Alex Cobb to put Tampa ahead 3-0. The Yankees then got another run in the sixth off a sac fly by Walter Ibarra to score Luis Nunez. The Tampa offense kept producing into the seventh inning as they s...

Port Charlotte, Florida: The Charlotte Stone Crabs tried to mount a comeback in the late innings but fell short a run in a 3-2 loss to the Tampa Yankees Sunday evening at Charlotte Sports Park. Tampa’s big first inning doomed the Stone Crabs as they managed to out hit the Yankees 11-4 and only allowed one hit outside the first inning, but still fell short. Tampa struck first, tagging rehabbing Jake McGee for three runs in the first inning. Daniel Brewer singled to center to start the game. Brewer advanced to second on a sac bunt by Matt Cusick and then to third on a wild pitch. Austin Romaine followed with an RBI single to score Brewer. Brandon Laird then cleared the bases with a homer to put the Yankees ahead 3-0. Tampa and Charlotte went out to out for the next six innings with neither team able to plate a run. But that all ended in the bottom of the eighth inning when the Stone Crabs took the zero off the board. Omar Luna and Shawn Riggans delivered back to back singles to s...

Sarasota, Florida: The field is ready, the fans fill the seats and the players take the field, its time for opening day, Sarasota Reds style. The Reds kicked of their 2008 home schedule on a winning note by defeating the Tampa Yankees at Ed Smith Stadium. The tightly fought contest seven and a half scoreless innings before the Reds finally scored the lone rune of the game. Seth Henry led off the inning with a line drive to left. He advanced to second on a sac bunt by Michael DeJesus and later to third on a ground out by Chris Valaika. Juan Francisco drove home the runner with a single to right, scoring Henry and giving the Reds the 1-0 win. Matt Belisle, in Sarasota on a rehab assignment from the Cincinnati Reds, picked up the victory. Belisle was one out shy of a complete game shut-out, being pulled from the game with two outs in the top of the ninth after reaching his pitch count. He allowed just two hits and struck out three. Click on the photo above to view my Reds/Yankees ...

Sarasota, Florida: The Sarasota Reds regular season came to an end in nail biting fashion as they fell to the Tampa Yankees 5-4. The Sunday afternoon season finale was a great warm up for postseason play. Despite the loss, the Reds head to the Florida State League playoffs, facing Clearwater in round one. Click on the photo to view the Reds/Yankees game gallery.

Tampa, Florida: The Tampa Yankees are the Class A-Advanced affiliate of the New York Yankees. The T-Yanks are five time league champions and have sent many notable players to the big show including Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera and Joba Chamberlain to name a few. The Yankees began play in the Florida State League in 1994. Since then the club has been a breeding place for young talent as well as a rehabilitation stop for major leaguers that are on the disabled list. George M. Steinbrenner Field is the home of the Tampa Yankees as well as the spring training home of the parent New York Yankees. The T-Yanks play their 70 game home schedule in this iconic stadium that resembles the footprint of Yankee Stadium. The Yankees are five time Florida State League Champions and have one the past two titles back to back. They won the title in 1994, 2001, 2004, 2009 and 2010. Click on the photo above to visit my Tampa Yankees photo gallery. Here you can see game pictures as well as player pict...