Bombs Nearly Bring Fire Frogs Back in Daytona Beach, 6-4

Photo Credit: Chris Wiley, Sports View America
DAYTONA BEACH, FL: The Daytona Tortugas took a 5-0 lead after three innings and withstood a strong charge from the Florida Fire Frogs in a series opening 6-4 win at Radiology Associates Field at Jackie Robinson Ballpark on Monday evening.

A wild pitch from RHP Matt Hartman brought in the first run of the game in the bottom of the first. Stuart Fairchild and Bruce Yari had consecutive two-run doubles to expand Daytona's lead to 5-0 in the third.
Hartman (0-2) tossed five innings of five-run baseball, working through five hits, four walks, and notching four strikeouts in his second Advanced-A start.
Fairchild went 2-4 for the Tortugas with two doubles, two RBIs, and a run scored. Yari's run-producing double proved to be the game-winner.
The Fire Frogs rally began in the sixth. Riley Delgado broke out of his 0-12 slump with a knock that brought in Brett Langhorne to trim the deficit to 5-1.
Langhorne drew two walks and scored twice for the Fire Frogs.
Kevin Josephina led off the seventh with a bang. He smacked a 410-foot bomb to right-center, his first of the season, off RHP Clate Schmidt to make it 5-2 Daytona. Two throwing errors from Tortugas catcher Hendrik Clementina moved up aggressive base runners, and Langhorne was able to score to make it a two-run game.
Schmidt (1-0) earned his first victory as a member of the Reds organization, surrendering just a hit and an earned run over five outs.
Drew Lugbauer's 440-foot blast to dead center field, his sixth round-tripper, with two outs in the eighth brought Florida to within 5-4. He went 2-4 on the night, adding a single in the fifth.
Lugbauer's long ball cemented the sixth multiple homer effort for the Fire Frogs this season.
Clementina's RBI double against RHP Brooks Wilson was an important insurance tally, scoring Yari to bump the Tortugas edge back to 6-4.
Wilson allowed just two hits in his frame of work. RHP Lukas Young faced four while blanking the Tortugas in the sixth. RHP Bradley Roney moved his scoreless innings streak to 13.1 by hammering through a perfect seventh.
RHP Ryan Lillie had to leave early from his start but gave up just two hits in four-plus stanzas. LHP Andy Cox picked up his fourth save of the season for the Tortugas.
NEXT UP: The Fire Frogs send RHP Nolan Kingham (3-5, 5.12) to the mound in Tuesday's middle game of the set at Jackie Robinson Ballpark against LHP Wennington Romero. First pitch will be thrown at 7:05 p.m.
REMINDER: The first home series of the second half will be a BIG weekend at Osceola County Stadium. The Fire Frogs will welcome the St. Lucie Mets to town for a four-game series beginning Thursday, June 20 at 6 p.m. We have a gnome giveaway scheduled as part of our $2 ticket night on Friday evening. Abbey Road Tribute night occurs on Saturday with Beatles cover band Liverpool Live performing pregame and postgame. Get all the info and purchase tickets here: https://www.milb.com/florida/tickets/promotions
About the Florida Fire Frogs
The Florida Fire Frogs are the Advanced-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves and compete in the Florida State League. The Fire Frogs play their home games at Osceola County Stadium, located at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Fla. For more information, please visit www.FloridaFireFrogs.com, and follow the team on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and YouTube.