Three days ago, the Hammerheads sat seven games out of first-place with 17 left to play.
They've won three straight since, defeating second-place Charlotte and winning back-to-back matchups against first-place St. Lucie - including Saturday's night's 4-2 victory - to pull them within four games of first-place.
Jupiter will play eight of their remaining 14 games against Charlotte or St. Lucie. The Hammerheads are down, but they're not out.
Jupiter hung a three-spot in the first inning on Mets' starting pitcher Alex Panteliodis Saturday night, scoring one on a throwing error, another on a Ryan Fisher RBI double, and then again on an Austin Nola RBI single.
That was enough support for starter Angel Sanchez, who held the Mets to two runs in five innings. He scattered four hits, walked three and struck out four. Now five starts removed from a combined no-hitter on July 22, Sanchez boasts a 2.83 ERA and 37/18 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 41.1 innings with the Hammerheads this season.
The Mets got their first run on a two-out double by T.J. Rivera in the third inning. They threatened again in the fifth, loading the bases with one out. St. Lucie plated one on a force play at second before Sanchez struck out Dustin Lawley looking to end the inning.
The Hammerheads' bullpen took over from there, yielding just one base runner in the final four innings. Tyler Higgins picked up his 10th hold of the season, striking out a pair in two perfect innings. James Nygren tossed a scoreless eighth inning before closer Nick Wittgren notched his Florida State League-leading 23rd save with a one-two-three ninth.
Fisher led Jupiter with three of the team's nine hits, marking the fifth straight game the Hammerheads have racked up eight hits or more. Dating back to the ninth inning of Thursday night, Andy Haines' squad has scored 21 runs in their last 26 innings.
Wilfredo Lopez picked up his 17th multi-hit effort of the season with a 2-for-3 night.
Brent Keys, the Florida State League-leader in batting average (.349) and on-base percentage (.417) went 1-for-4 from the leadoff spot. Keys has a hit in 43 of his last 52 games, and has reached base in 39 of his last 41.
Panteliodis cruised after a bumpy first and second inning, allowing just three hits from the third inning on. The left-hander was removed after 7.2 innings, yielding four runs on nine hits. He walked three and struck out two.
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