Church pitches Mets to 6-0 victory over Flying Tigers

LAKELAND, Fla. (May 15, 2017) - The St. Lucie Mets blanked the Lakeland Flying Tigers 6-0 on Monday at Joker Marchant Stadium for their first shutout of the year.
 
Mets starter Andrew Church twirled 8.1 terrific innings to earn the win. Justin Brantley recorded the final two outs and stranded the bases loaded to preserve the shutout.
 
Dale Burdick broke a scoreless tie in the fifth inning with a three-run homer, his third of the year.
 
Jhoan Urena blasted his third homer of the season, a solo shot, with one out in the sixth.
 
John Mora, J.C. Rodriguez and Urena hit consecutive doubles with two outs in the top of the ninth to add two more runs and give the Mets a 6-0 advantage.
 
The double by Mora extended his hitting streak to 11 games.
 
Churched breezed through most of the night. Through eight innings he only allowed five singles and threw 87 pitches. In the ninth Luis Valdes led off with a double and Wade Hinkle followed with a double to put runners on the corners with no outs. Church buckled down to strike out Zac Shepherd, who was the final batter he faced.
 
Brantley came on and struck out Will Allen. After Brantley walked Dustin Frailey to load the bases, he got Arvicent Perez to fly out to center to end the game.
 
Urena went 2 for 4 and added a walk. Patrick Mazeika went 1 for 3 with a double and walked twice. Nick Sergakis was 2 for 3.
 
The Mets have won four in a row vs. Lakeland and improved to 5-2 in the season series against the Flying Tigers.
 
The Mets (17-21) and Flying Tigers (18-20) play an Education Day game at Joker Marchant Stadium on Tuesday. First pitch is 10:30 a.m.