Palm Beach Rallies in Ninth But Falls in 11th

The Palm Beach Cardinals rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning on Thursday Night against the St. Lucie Mets. But in spite of the hitting flurry to force extra innings, the Cardinals were unable to scratch across a winning run in the 10th and would fall 4-3 after being held scoreless again in the 11th.

Third baseman Osvaldo Tovalin walked in the ninth, before first baseman Brady Whalen singled an at-bat later. Luis Rodriguez and Brandon Hernandez each walked, with the latter free pass bringing in a run. Ryan Holgate would have a groundout RBI before Hansel Otamendi's single tied the game with the Cardinals down to their final strike. Palm Beach however was unable to scratch across a winning run in the 10th in spite of having two runners on with no outs.

This mistake cost the Beach Birds when they allowed a St. Lucie sacrifice fly in the 11th, and were unable to respond in the bottom half, stranding the tying run on third base.

Zane Mills started for Palm beach and tossed seven innings, allowing three earned runs. The righty struck out seven batters while walking just one. Hayes Heinecke would toss two scoreless innings before Andre Granillo would throw both extra innings. And while neither reliever surrendered an earned run, the automatic runner on second base would prove to be Granillo's undoing as Thursday's closer took the loss.

Offensively, Tyler Reichenborn led the team with a 2-4 evening, and six Cardinal batters combined for seven walks against the Mets pitching staff.

Carlos Guarate will be turned to as Friday's starting pitcher for Palm Beach at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium for Game 4 against the Mets. First pitch tomorrow is at 6:30 p.m.

For Thursday's final box, click here.