Fishman Fittingly Finishes Fishing Night Victory

The Dunedin Blue Jays ended a three game skid with a 5-1 win in the opener of a four-game home series against the Lakeland Flying Tigers on Thursday evening at Dunedin Stadium. RHP Connor Eller provided the Blue Jays with a solid spot start and LHP Randy Pondler was impressive in his Florida State League debut, picking up the win with 4.2 innings of relief.
The Blue Jays offense got the Fishing Night festivities started early, scoring twice in the bottom of the first. LF Eduard Pinto knocked a double with one out in the first and DH Alberto Mineo followed with a double of his own. C Riley Adams singled to left, plating Mineo with Dunedin's second run of the inning.
Between innings, the Blue Jays gave away a host of fishing raffle prizes to celebrate their annual angler-themed promo night. Packages won by fans included a brand new angler kayak, multiple fishing charters, diving lessons, parasail and wave runner sessions, a beach cabana, and a boatload of fishing tackle, gear, and apparel.
With a rowdy Thirsty Thursday crowd in the stands and the fishing festivities ongoing off the field, the Blue Jays pitching staff held the Flying Tigers bats silent. RHP Connor Eller threw 2.1 scoreless in his first start since 2016, giving up no hits and one walk while striking out one. LHP Randy Pondler, an addition to the Dunedin roster earlier in the day from Extended Spring Training, relieved Eller with one out in the third and provided the Blue Jays with 4.2 innings of quality relief. Pondler allowed one run on six hits while striking out six to pick up his first Florida State League win in his debut.
After Lakeland strung a double and a single together for a lone run in the fourth, they threatened to tie the game in the sixth. After a double and a single put runners on the corners with no outs, Dylan Burdeaux lofted a fly ball to left that looked like it would be deep enough to score the runner from third. Pinto came up gunning from left and threw out the runner at the plate for a double play and Pondler recorded a strikeout to end the inning.
The Blue Jays broke the game open in the home half of the sixth, scoring three times. Mineo and Adams worked walks to lead off the inning and 1B Kacy Clemens beat out an infield single to load the bases. With one out, SS Ivan Castillo hit a sacrifice fly to right to score Mineo. RF Rodrigo Orozco worked a walk to re-load the bases and CF Joshua Palacios singled to right to bring home two more and put the Jays up 5-1.
LHP Travis Bergen relieved Pondler to open the eighth inning and held Lakeland scoreless before LHP Jake Fishman finished Fishing Night with a scoreless ninth to preserve the win.
The win moves Dunedin's record to 19-27 on the season while Lakeland falls below .500 at 21-22. LHP Tayler Saucedo, who owns a 2.52 ERA in the month of May, will take the hill for the Blue Jays against top prospect RHP Alex Faedo. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM.