Heyer cruises, Cards win 8th straight

JUPITER, FL- Palm Beach starting pitcher Kurt Heyer propelled his team to their 8th straight victory Thursday night at Roger Dean Stadium as the Cardinals defeated the Hammerheads 1-0.

Heyer tossed an impressive 7 innings while giving up no runs on 4 hits, a walk and striking out 4. Jupiter did have an opportunity early, loading the bases with 1-out in the 2nd. However, the right-hander from Huntington Beach, CA was able to extinguish the threat when he strung together a strikeout and a 6-3 groundout.

From that point on, the game remained scoreless until the bottom of the 6th. Cardinals' center fielder, Ronny Gil (2-3, 3B, R), led off the inning with a sharp single to right. David Popkins (1-4) then followed with a single of his own, advancing the speedy Gil to third. Next batter, Alex Mejia (0-2, RBI) was able to capitalize on the no-out situation, hitting a deep fly ball to center scoring Gil from third and giving his team the 1-0 lead.

Dean Kiekhefer (2.0 IP, 2H, 2K) notched his 6th save of the season after tossing a scoreless 8th and 9th.

Despite collecting the "hard luck" loss, Hammerheads' starting pitcher Josh Hodges was excellent. The righty tossed 7 innings while giving up 1 earned run on 3 hits. Hodges also collected 6 strikeouts in the outing.

The Cardinals seek to complete the series sweep of the Hammerheads tomorrow, 6:35 p.m. at Roger Dean Stadium. St. Louis Cardinals' #1 pick of the 2013 draft, Marco Gonzales, is slated to take the mound against Jupiter's Jake Esche.

For more information on the Palm Beach Cardinals please visit www.palmbeachcardinals.com or call 561-799-1391.

WP: Heyer (4-5) LP: Hodges (5-3) S: Kiekhefer (6)