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Palm Beach Cardinals

Cardinals survive slugfest 13-11; take 1-0 lead in FSL Championship

September 9, 2005 - Florida State League (FSL1)
Palm Beach Cardinals News Release


JUPITER, FL - In the wildest game of the year for Palm Beach, the Cardinals came from behind in the eighth and won 13-11 on Friday night over the Lakeland Tigers.

Brian Martin went 4-for-5 with six RBIs and Justin Garza (1-0) solved the Tigers' bats with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief for the win.

The Tigers - the team with the best record in Minor League Baseball during the regular season at 85-48 - took an early 2-0 lead after 2 ½ innings off Cardinals' starter Mark Michael. The Cardinals fought back in the bottom of the third, as they mounted their first of four three-run rallies of the night to take a 3-2 lead.

In the fourth, Matt Dryer connected on his first post-season home run to left field to give the Cards the 4-2 lead. After the Tigers cut the lead to 4-3 in the fifth, the Cardinals responded in the bottom half on a three-run homer by Brian Martin. In four post-season games, Martin is now 7-for-15 with nine RBIs.

After the Tigers cut the lead to 7-5 in the sixth, the Cardinals again answered with three runs of their own in the bottom half. The big hit came from Andy Schutzenhofer who drove home two with a single up the middle with two outs to make it 10-5. Schutzenhofer finished 1-for-3 with three RBIs.

Though the Cardinals were up by five runs, the outcome was far from decided. Dennis Dove came on in relief and promptly gave up a single to Gilberto Mejia and a walk to Vince Blue, followed by on opposite field homer by Brent Clevlen - his fourth of the post-season in three games. The Tigers tacked on one more run in the frame and scored twice in the eighth come all the way back and take an 11-10 lead.

Destiny on Friday was on the Cardinals side, however, as they once again put three runs on the board - this time in the bottom of the eighth. With runners on second and third and two outs, Tigers' reliever Brian Rogers (0-1) uncorked a wild pitch while attempting to intentionally walk Schutzenhofer, tying the game at 11-11. Gorecki and Martin followed with RBI-singles to cap the scoring.

Garza shut down the Tigers in the ninth to get the win.

The 13 runs were the most the Cardinals scored this season, surpassing their high of 12 on July 9 against Dunedin. The Cards and Tigers will battle in Game Two of the best-of-five series on Saturday night at 6:05 at Roger Dean Stadium, before the series shifts to Joker Marchant Stadium starting Sunday at 7:00.

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