Written by Joe Zollo
On a gorgeous night in Osceola County Stadium, the Florida Fire Frogs, class A-Advanced affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, welcomed in the Lakeland Flying Tigers, class A-Advanced affiliate of the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers walked in ready to play but by the end of the first inning, the game was already a lost cause. If you love watching a fireworks show then the post-game fireworks were something to behold. For the people who do not like the loud noises of the fireworks, you could still see a nine inning fireworks show put on by the Fire Frogs offense.
The pitching matchup in this game held A.J Ladwig of Lakeland opposing Tyler Pike of the Fire Frogs. One had a fantastic outing while the other struggled to get out of the first inning. Lakeland pitcher, A.J Ladwig, started the game but did not even pitch a full inning as he allowed 8 earned runs in the first inning. Yes. 8 earned runs. In the first inning. Spenser Watkins came on in relief for him with 2 outs left in the first and he allowed another two runs to come across in the inning. Before the first pitch of the second inning was thrown, the score was already 10-0 Fire Frogs.
You may be thinking that Lakeland scored a couple runs to try and keep it competitive and you are incorrect. The Tigers could get nothing going at the plate as they never had more than five batters at the plate in an inning. They only struck out nine times and contact was being made on pitches, just not any good contact. Only seven hits were made in the game for the Flying Tigers and only one of them was for extra bases.
The best hitting performance was put on the by the number nine hitter David Gonzalez. Gonzalez went 2-3 at the plate with two singles and a line out to right field. Other than that, every Flying Tiger had a less than pleasing night at the plate but the same did not fair for the Fire Frogs.
After scoring 10 runs in the first inning and almost batting through the line up twice, Florida scored eight runs the rest of the game while only missing out on scoring opportunities in two innings. The Fire Frogs scored in 75% of the innings that they were at the plate and it was in tremendous fashion. The team combined for 24 hits with three of them being home runs, two of which were hit back-to-back by Austin Riley and Braxton Davidson in the 5th inning.
Another crazy stat for the Fire Frogs offense was that every starter today had at least one hit throughout the game. The standout performance for Fire Frogs at the plate was 2B Alay Lago who went 5-6 at the plate. Every single hit he had was a single including three straight singles in the first, second, and third inning.
In the end, the Lakeland Flying Tigers fell to the Florida Fire Frogs by a traumatic score of 18-0. Tyler Pike, Corbin Clouse, and Josh Graham pitched a combined no hitter for Florida while Tyler Pike received the win, his first of the season, and A.J Ladwig was handed the loss. This was game one of a three game series between the teams as game two will be played April 29th with Spencer Turnbull of Lakeland opposing Drew Harrington of Florida. First pitch set for 7:05 as Lakeland looks come back from the embarrassing loss in this game.
The pitching matchup in this game held A.J Ladwig of Lakeland opposing Tyler Pike of the Fire Frogs. One had a fantastic outing while the other struggled to get out of the first inning. Lakeland pitcher, A.J Ladwig, started the game but did not even pitch a full inning as he allowed 8 earned runs in the first inning. Yes. 8 earned runs. In the first inning. Spenser Watkins came on in relief for him with 2 outs left in the first and he allowed another two runs to come across in the inning. Before the first pitch of the second inning was thrown, the score was already 10-0 Fire Frogs.
You may be thinking that Lakeland scored a couple runs to try and keep it competitive and you are incorrect. The Tigers could get nothing going at the plate as they never had more than five batters at the plate in an inning. They only struck out nine times and contact was being made on pitches, just not any good contact. Only seven hits were made in the game for the Flying Tigers and only one of them was for extra bases.
The best hitting performance was put on the by the number nine hitter David Gonzalez. Gonzalez went 2-3 at the plate with two singles and a line out to right field. Other than that, every Flying Tiger had a less than pleasing night at the plate but the same did not fair for the Fire Frogs.
After scoring 10 runs in the first inning and almost batting through the line up twice, Florida scored eight runs the rest of the game while only missing out on scoring opportunities in two innings. The Fire Frogs scored in 75% of the innings that they were at the plate and it was in tremendous fashion. The team combined for 24 hits with three of them being home runs, two of which were hit back-to-back by Austin Riley and Braxton Davidson in the 5th inning.
Another crazy stat for the Fire Frogs offense was that every starter today had at least one hit throughout the game. The standout performance for Fire Frogs at the plate was 2B Alay Lago who went 5-6 at the plate. Every single hit he had was a single including three straight singles in the first, second, and third inning.
In the end, the Lakeland Flying Tigers fell to the Florida Fire Frogs by a traumatic score of 18-0. Tyler Pike, Corbin Clouse, and Josh Graham pitched a combined no hitter for Florida while Tyler Pike received the win, his first of the season, and A.J Ladwig was handed the loss. This was game one of a three game series between the teams as game two will be played April 29th with Spencer Turnbull of Lakeland opposing Drew Harrington of Florida. First pitch set for 7:05 as Lakeland looks come back from the embarrassing loss in this game.