Brevard falls late to Lakeland, 4-3

LAKELAND, Fla. - The Brevard County Manatees dropped their first game after the All-Star Break as they fell 4-3 on Monday night to the Lakeland Flying Tigers at Joker Marchant Stadium.

With the game tied 3-3 going into the bottom of the seventh, the Flying Tigers led the inning off with a double by Marcus Lemon off of the new Manatees (29-38) pitcher Thomas Keeling. After a sacrifice bunt by Adolfo Reina moved Lemon to second, a sacrifice fly by Luis Castillo plated Lemon in what would turn out to be the winning run for Lakeland (35-29).

Taylor Jungmann (5-4, 3.83) got the start on the mound for the 'Tees and he went six innings and allowed three runs. The 2011 first round draft pick yielded six hits and a walk to Lakeland, while striking out five.

Lakeland scored its three runs off of Jungmann in the first three innings, including a two-run, two-out, inside-the-park homer by Wade Gaynor in the third. In his last three innings of work, Jungmann settled down and retired nine of the last 11 hitters he faced.

Down 3-1 after three, Brevard scored one run in the fourth and another in the fifth to tie the game at 3-3. Cody Hawn scored on a balk in the fourth and Reggie Keen doubled in Nick Shaw to even the game in the fifth. Keen was 3-for-4 with two RBI on the night.

After hitting just .221 in the month of April, Keen has hit .318 since and is hitting .500 (11-for-22) in his last five games.

Overall offensively, the Manatees had plenty of chances but failed to capitalize as they went 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

Brevard County will look to get back on track in the second game of their three-game set at Lakeland with a 10:35 a.m. Tuesday matinee game.

Southpaw Jed Bradley (4-5, 4.36) will toe the rubber for the 'Tees. In two starts against the Flying Tigers this season, Bradley is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA.

Lakeland will counter with a lefty of their own, Shawn Teufel (3-4, 5.61). In three June starts, Teufel is 2-0 with a 1.86 ERA.