The St. Lucie Mets put together an epic ninth inning rally and stunned the Brevard County Manatees with an 8-6 win on Saturday at Space Coast Stadium.
With the bases loaded and the Mets down to their final out trailing 6-5, Phil Evans lofted a fly ball into shallow left field that dropped between left fielder Victor Roache and short stop Brandon Macias, clearing the bases to give the Mets an 8-6 lead.
Roache initially broke back on the fly ball and had to race in and slide on the attempt to make the catch.
Gavin Cecchini reached on a one out single in the ninth. Gilbert Gomez flew out for the second out. The Mets looked like they were done when Stephen Peterson got ahead of Maikis De La Cruz 1-2, but De La Cruz singled into left to keep the rally going. Jeff McNeil followed with an infield single to load the bases and set up Evans’ heroics.
Beck Wheeler pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to close it out. It was his seventh save.
The Mets fell behind 4-0 in the second inning and trailed 6-3 in the third, but a tremendous effort by the bullpen kept the Mets in the game.
Jake Kuebler pitched three scoreless innings, allowing just one single and striking out two.
Tim Peterson retired all six batters he faced in the seventh and eighth.
Kuebler, Peterson and Wheeler combined to retire the last 14 Manatee hitters in the game.
Evans’ three-run single was the hit that won the game, but McNeil was the offensive star. He went 3 for 5 with an RBI double, three-run homer and four RBIs.
Mets starter Matt Koch gave up nine hits, all singles, and six runs in three innings.
The Manatees scored four runs on five singles against Koch in the second. McNeil gave the Mets life by hitting a three-run homer, his first with St. Lucie, in the third to make it 4-3.
The Manatees scored two more off of Koch in the third to make it 6-3, but the bullpen held Brevard County in check the rest of the way while the Mets chipped their way back into it.
Peterson earned the win for the Mets and improved to 2-0 - team press release
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