Vazquez, Reds top Miracle

BY PHIL DENIS
Sarasota Herald Tribune

SARASOTA -- Sarasota received a quality pitching performance from left-handed starter Camilo Vazquez and some early timely hitting Saturday night en route to an 8-3 Florida State League victory over the Fort Myers Miracle.

Vazquez (3-1) allowed only five singles in six scoreless innings, dropping his earned-run average to 2.98 in front of 894 spectators at Ed Smith Stadium Saturday.

The Sarasota Reds improved to 22-27; Fort Myers drops to 28-21.

Jeremiah Piepkorn's run-scoring single in the bottom of the first inning ignited the hosts. In the second, Brandon Roberts and Paul Janish had back-to-back RBI singles and Adam Rosales, the Reds designated hitter after missing several games with a sore right elbow, delivered an RBI groundout.

With its 4-0 advantage, Sarasota doubled the score in the sixth before the Miracle scored once in the seventh and twice in the eighth.

John Purdom, Trevor Lawhorn, Roberts and Janish each collected a pair of hits to lead Sarasota's 11-hit offense.

Kyle Geiger and Jeremy Pickrel each had three hits for Fort Myers, which also collected 11 hits.

Sarasota Reds notebook

The teams will conclude the Sarasota segment of the four-game, split-city series with today's 1 p.m. game. Right-hander Richie Gardner (0-0, 5.14 ERA in two starts) is the Reds scheduled starter.

After a day off for Memorial Day, the teams will play at William Hammond Stadium in Lee County.

Cincinnati director of Florida operations Jeff Maultsby and SaraReds general manager Dan Wolfert were judges for the Sarasota Fire Fighters Benevolent Fund's third annual Rib Cook-Off held before the game and graded all entries as A+.