Mustangs Beat Rangers, 2-1 to Advance to the Championship Game

            The Mustangs and Rangers set off Monday morning to kick off the 2014 Juco Summer League Playoffs. The Mustangs Nate Werner (Concord Univ.) got the ball against the Rangers Raunel Perez (Cleveland St.). Nick Gallo (Palm Beach St.) led off the 1st inning with a single for the Stangs, but later got picked off. Shawn Feltner (Northwest Fla. St.) then reached base on a wild pitch after striking out and Arturo Tabales (Polk St.) walked to put runners on 1st and 2nd base. Feltner then advanced to 3rd base on a wild pitch and scored on a throwing error by the catcher to give the Stangs a 1-0 lead. Perez would go on to retire the next 9 batters until Feltner belted a double to right center in the 4th inning and later scored off a double from Kyle Scott (Daytona St. College) to make it 2-0 Mustangs. The Rangers scored their 1st run in the 6th inning, when Jeffrey Woods (Onley Central) laid down a drag bunt to reach base and later scored off a double from Lorenzo Boden (Embry Riddle Aero Univ.). After the 6th inning, Werner retired the next 3 batters as he picked up the win and complete game for the Stangs. It only took Werner a total of 70 pitches (12 balls, 58 strikes) to take care of the Rangers as he finished with: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 0 BB and 6 K’s. Raunel Perez finished with an astonishing 13 K’s in 6 IP, only allowing 1 ER and 3 hits. The Mustangs advanced to the 2014 Juco Summer League Championship Game against the Falcons.

Falcons Advance to Championship Game After 4-0 Victory Over Mavs.

            The 1st seed Falcons proved their worth after the victory over the 4th seed Mavericks Monday morning. The soaring Falcons started the game on a good note as Brian Pfund (Tompkins Cortland C.C.), Evan Speicher (Cleveland St.) and Sjaghbar Martis (Monroe C.C.) led the game off with 3 consecutive singles. Martis would record 2 RBI on his single. Later in the inning, Luke Heyer (College of Central Fla.) drove in Martis with yet another Falcon single. In the 2nd inning Speicher drove in Chris Ervin (Alabama Southern) off an RBI single to increase the lead to 4-0. The score would remain the same the rest of the game. Matt Picucci (Hillsborough C.C.) threw the first 4 inning for the Mavs, giving up 8 hits, 4 runs and recording 8 K’s, then David Anderson (Danville Area C.C.) came in to pitch 2 scoreless innings with 1 BB and 3 K’s. The Falcons starter, Jordan Whitmire (Cleveland St. C.C.) threw a complete game shutout, finishing with 8 K’s, 3 BB and only allowing 5 hits. The Mavs Ryan Hagy (State College of Fla.) collected 2 of the team’s 5 hits on the day as the Falcons advance to the Championship Game to face off against the Mustangs.

Congratulations to the Falcons! 2014 Inaugural Juco Summer League Champions!

            The #1 seed Falcons and the #2 seed Mustangs rightfully earned their spots in the Championship Game by defeating their opponents earlier in the day in the semi-finals. The Falcons picked up right where they left off as they scored an early run in the 1st inning, thanks to a fielder’s choice off Hunter Brannan’s (Mississippi Gulf Coast C.C.) bat, scoring Evan Speicher (Cleveland St.) from 3rd base. Pat Thompson (Concord Univ.), the starting pitcher for the Stangs, finished with 3 innings, giving up 1 more run in the 4th after balking in Chris Ervin (Alabama Southern) from 3rd base. Thompson then left the game with a finger injury and Joshua Hibbard (Hesston) entered the game in relief. The Falcons would add 1 more run in the 5th inning by an RBI from Luke Heyer (College of Central Fla.) and 2 RBI’s from a Nathan Geiger (College of Central Fla.) triple to increase the lead to 5-0 in the 6th inning. Falcon’s starter Kegan Frederick, (Cleveland St.) pitched lights out, only allowing 1 hit the entire game. He finished with the complete game shutout, walking 2 batters and collecting 6 K’s. The Mustangs only hit came from Joe Boyd in the 5th inning (Palm Beach St.). Congratulations to the Falcons as they defeat the Mustangs, 5-0 in the Championship Game and win the first ever Juco Summer League Championship!