Game Notes for Tuesday, June 12
NOT TAKEN FOR GRANTED: By completing their first road sweep of the season in Bradenton, the Hammerheads have climbed back to the .500 mark. This is the first time they have been at the .500 plateau since April 9th when they were 2-2. LHP Grant Dayton picked up his first win of the 2012 season with two scoreless innings in releif of starter Rob Rasmussen. Aided by the second straight six RBI ballgame by Marcell Ozuna, Jupiter cruised to a 10-5 victory over the Marauders.
THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ: Following a night off in the series opener in Bradenton, OF Marcell Ozuna turned in an unbelievable performance in the final two games. On Sunday, he broke a 2-for-20 slump with a 3-for-4 game which included a career-high three home runs as he matched his career-best with six RBI. Last night, he went 3-for-5 with a pair of homers, including his first career grand slam, and another six RBI. The grand slam was his 70th career home run. He now leads the FSL with 15 home runs and is second with 46 RBI.
BOMBS OVER BRADENTON: Including Marcell Ozuna's five home run series, the Hammerheads tallied eight team homers. They set a season-high with four long balls in back-to-back games to close out the set. Ryan Fisher hit his 5th of the season on Sunday. On Monday, Mark Canha hit his 3rd and Danny Pertusati connected on his 2nd of the year. 16 of Jupiter's 42 home runs on the season have come against the Marauders. Additionally, on Friday Jupiter set a season-high with hits (18) doubles (7) and runs in an inning (8). On the year, the Hammerheads have score ten or more runs just five times and they did so in all three games of the Bradenton sweep.
UNCHARTED WATERS: The Hammerheads are riding a season-high four-game winning streak. Now at .500, Jupiter will look to surpass their high-water mark of one game over at 2-1 on April 7th.
VS. CHARLOTTE: The Stone Crabs hold a 4-5 lead over the Hammerheads in the 2012 season series, but Jupiter leads 2-1 at Roger Dean Stadium. Following this set, the teams each host one more three-game series at their home park in August. Charlotte held a commanding 9-3 series lead over the Hammerheads last year.
TONIGHT'S STARTER: LH Chad James makes his 12th for Jupiter in the 2012 season. He is 2-1 with a no-decision over his past four starts. James has no two starts this season against the Stone Crabs but has not factored in either decision. In his first start of the year he went six innings and allowed one run on four hits at Charlotte. The Hammerheads are 5-6 in James' starts this season.
PAINT IT BLACK: IF Danny Black continues his strong first half at the plate this season as he went 3-for-5 with a double and two runs scored last night. It was his fifth three-hit game of the season and he leads Jupiter with 20 multi-hit games this year. He has currently matched his season-best seven-game hitting streak. Over the past ten games Black is batting .405 with seven runs scored and eight RBI.
DUDLEY DO RIGHT: C/1B Aaron Dudley is riding a season-high eight-game hitting streak. Although he took last night off, he has recorded two-hit efforts in his last four starts. Dudley is batting .448 with a homer, five RBI and seven runs scored over the last ten games.
HEY NOW YOU'RE AN ALL-STAR: Six Jupiter Hammerheads were recognized by Florida State League, as the 2012 All-Star team was announced. OFs Christian Yelich and Marcell Ozuna along with C J.T. Realmuto made the roster. Yelich will not participate in the game however, as he is still on the Disabled List with a concussion. RHP Matt Neil was also recognized by the league, but has since been promoted to Double-A Jacksonville. Replacing Neil on the roster is Jupiter's closer Michael Brady. Additionally, LHP Raudel Lazo was added to the roster today. The 51st annual All-Star Game will be held at Charlotte Sports Park on Saturday, June 16.
ALL IN A DAYS WORK: Yesterday's win in Bradenton was the Hammerheads first win of the season on the road on Monday (1-4). Tuesday remains the only day of the week in which Jupiter is undefeated at home (3-0).