The Lakeland Flying Tigers (15-14) snapped their six-game losing streak courtesy of a seventh-inning sacrifice fly from Max Anderson, lifting them to a 5-4 win over the St. Lucie Mets (13-16) on Wednesday night at Joker Marchant Stadium.
Lakeland got the scoring started in the first inning off starter Joel Lara. Jesus Pinto drew a leadoff walk, his seventh free pass over the last five games. He stole second, moved to third on an Anderson groundout and scored on Jordan Yost ground ball that resulted in an error, allowing Yost to reach as well, giving the Flying Tigers a 1-0 lead.
Lakeland opened up its lead in the third off Lara. Yost reached on an infield single and scored on a 423-foot triple from Zach MacDonald. Beau Ankeney followed with a 414-foot, 110 mph two-run blast, putting the Flying Tigers ahead 4-0.
St. Lucie countered with three in the sixth off reliever Preston Howey. Branny De Oleo and Elian Pena each singled to begin the frame. De Oleo scored on a wild pitch and Randy Guzman smashed a two-run shot, cutting the deficit to 4-3.
The Mets tied the game in the seventh off Luke Hoskins. Simon Juan led off the inning with a single, stole second and scored on a single from De Oleo, knotting the game at 4-4.
Lakeland responded with the go-ahead run off Conner Ware in the bottom of the seventh. Javier Osorio drew a leadoff walk, stole second and third before scoring on Anderson’s sacrifice fly, putting the Flying Tigers back ahead, 5-4, for a lead they would not relinquish.
Hoskins (3-1) grabbed the win, hurling 1.2 innings while allowing one run on two hits with two punchouts. Ware (1-4) took the tough-luck loss, surrendering one run on two hits while punching out five and walking two over 4.0 innings. Yendy Gomez (2) notched his second six-out save of the season, allowing one hit while striking out one and walking two.
Lakeland looks for the series lead on Thursday as they host St. Lucie at 6:30 p.m. RHP Malachi Witherspoon (0-0, 5.17) toes the rubber for the Flying Tigers as he faces off against Mets RHP Frank Camarillo (0-1, 4.64).
