Written By: Joe Zollo
It has been 17 years since minor league baseball has been played at Osceola County Stadium, but it is finally back. The Florida Fire Frogs, Class A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves, opened their inaugural season against the Daytona Tortugas, Class A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. The former Brevard County Manatees have relocated to Osceola County Stadium and have taken on the new name of the Fire Frogs, but they did not give their fans much to cheer about on opening night.
Frogs starting pitcher, Luiz Gohara, pitched five solid innings with seven strikeouts and led Florida to an impressive first half of the game but that quickly came to a stop in the 7th inning. Andres Santiago replaced Gohara and allowed all of Daytona’s three runs in the 7th inning, and there was no turning back from there. The Fire Frogs offense struggled after their first score in the 2nd inning of the game and never recovered.
There were no multi-base hits for the Frogs, and they struck out a combined 12 times as a team with every player striking out at least once. The highlight of their offense was CF Ray-Patrick Didder who did not have a single hit but instead went 0-2 at the plate with three walks and two steals. Didder had an impressive game all around, but the same can not be said for his teammates.
In the other dugout, the Tortugas had an impressive all-around game in the field and at the plate. Starting pitcher, Jonathan Crawford allowed the Frogs only run through his 4.2 innings pitched while his relievers, Sandy Lugo and Geoff Broussard, pitched lights out allowing only three hits in 4.1 innings pitched. SS Alfredo Rodriguez had a shaky first day at the plate but excelled in the field, accounting for eight putouts while making some impressive diving stops and web gems.
The game ended with Daytona coming out on top 3-1 in the first game of this four-game series happening over the weekend. Game two will be played Friday, April 7th at Osceola County Stadium with Tyler Pike taking the mound for the Fire Frogs opposing a pitcher to be named by Daytona two hours before first pitch.
Even though the Fire Frogs did not come away victorious in this game, the organization can still count it as a win. A rowdy crowd of 3,283 came out for the game and were in it until the end, cheering their newly acquired team all the way until the final out. The fans responded incredibly to everything the organization did, from in-between inning T-shirt tosses to the post-game fireworks show. Hats off the Fire Frogs Marketing Manager Sarah Leo for producing a fantastic first game on her end.
Frogs starting pitcher, Luiz Gohara, pitched five solid innings with seven strikeouts and led Florida to an impressive first half of the game but that quickly came to a stop in the 7th inning. Andres Santiago replaced Gohara and allowed all of Daytona’s three runs in the 7th inning, and there was no turning back from there. The Fire Frogs offense struggled after their first score in the 2nd inning of the game and never recovered.
There were no multi-base hits for the Frogs, and they struck out a combined 12 times as a team with every player striking out at least once. The highlight of their offense was CF Ray-Patrick Didder who did not have a single hit but instead went 0-2 at the plate with three walks and two steals. Didder had an impressive game all around, but the same can not be said for his teammates.
In the other dugout, the Tortugas had an impressive all-around game in the field and at the plate. Starting pitcher, Jonathan Crawford allowed the Frogs only run through his 4.2 innings pitched while his relievers, Sandy Lugo and Geoff Broussard, pitched lights out allowing only three hits in 4.1 innings pitched. SS Alfredo Rodriguez had a shaky first day at the plate but excelled in the field, accounting for eight putouts while making some impressive diving stops and web gems.
The game ended with Daytona coming out on top 3-1 in the first game of this four-game series happening over the weekend. Game two will be played Friday, April 7th at Osceola County Stadium with Tyler Pike taking the mound for the Fire Frogs opposing a pitcher to be named by Daytona two hours before first pitch.
Even though the Fire Frogs did not come away victorious in this game, the organization can still count it as a win. A rowdy crowd of 3,283 came out for the game and were in it until the end, cheering their newly acquired team all the way until the final out. The fans responded incredibly to everything the organization did, from in-between inning T-shirt tosses to the post-game fireworks show. Hats off the Fire Frogs Marketing Manager Sarah Leo for producing a fantastic first game on her end.