Cardinals Shut Out Stone Crabs 3-0

Jupiter, FL - The Palm Beach Cardinals (56-41, 16-14) scored three runs in the ninth inning to lead to a 3-0 victory over the Charlotte Stone Crabs (46-52, 15-15).
Connor Jones, Ian McKinney and Ross Vance combined for an eight hit shutout on Monday evening. Connor Jones got the start and tossed 4.2 innings of shutout baseball giving up six hits, walked three and struck out two.
Charlotte threatened in the top of the sixth as Ryan Boldt reached on a bunt single. Kevin Padlo popped out in fould territory for the first out of the inning bring up David Olmedo-Barrera. Olmedo-Barrera hit a ball hard in the right-center gap that Shane Billings ran down and threw out Boldt at first who was already rounding second thinking the ball was going to find the gap.
Ian McKinney tossed 3.0 scoreless innings in relief giving up only one hit in the three frames while walking one and striking out two.
The Cardinals were held to three hits in the first seven innings and then broke it open in the bottom of the eighth. Shane Billings got a two out double that got past the first baseman's glove and dribbled down the right field line. The Stone Crabs intentionally walked Thomas Spitz to bring Chris Chinea to the plate. Chine saw a 1-0 fastball and hit a bloop single to centerfield to allow Billings to score and break up the tie. Danny Diekroeger then broke the game open with a two run double.
Ross Vance tossed a scoreless ninth giving up one hit in the inning to hold on to the 3-0 shutout for Palm Beach.