Toledo Mud Hens 7, Syracuse Mets 1 (box)
Hens pitching was on point again against a good offense, and the Bats lit up Mets’ pitching again to take a 3-1 lead in the best of six series on Friday.
Max Clark continues to rake in his first look at the Triple-A level. He still has just two strikeouts through seven games, and he got the Hens started by dumping a one out single into left field and tearing around first to second base. An MJ Melendez throw went wide, and Clark ended up on third and then scored on a balk.
Right-hander Ty Madden got
the start for Toledo, but he was greeted immediately by a Melendez solo shot. He gave up a pair of one out singles and then popped up Jose Rojas. At that point he left the game because he was already near 30 pitches in the inning, and Konnor Pilkington cleaned up the final out of the first. The at-bats were long, and Madden is sitting around 92 mph right now, so there’s still a long way to go to get back to the 95-97 mph heat he had prior to the shoulder injury last year.
Right-hander Christian Scott did not have a good time facing the Hens, and back-to-back solo shots from Eduardo Valencia and Gage Workman opened the top of the second. He bounced back with a pair of strikeouts and wrapped up the inning but it was 3-1 Hens.
Pilkington tossed a clean bottom half, and Wenceel Pérez and Clark opened the third with singles. A Trei Cruz single off first baseman Jose Rojas scored Pérez but Clark was stranded. 4-1 Hens.
In the top of the fourth. Tomas Nido and Ben Malgeri doubled back-to-back and Max Burt was clipped by an errant pitch. Pérez stepped back in and sprayed an opposite field drive for a double that scored Malgeri. The Mets went back to the pen, but Clark was there again with a sac fly to bring in Burt for a 7-1 lead.
The rest of the game saw Matt Seelinger, Burch Smith, and Ricky Vanasco rack up strikeouts, pitching through modest traffic. Sean Guenther closed it out.
Perez: 2-5, R, RBI, 2B
Clark: 2-3, R, RBI, 2B, BB
Pilkington (W, 1-0): 2.1 IP, 0 R, 3 H, BB, 0 K
Smith: 2.0 IP, 0 R, H, 0 BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 1:05 p.m. ET start on Saturday in Syracuse.
Erie SeaWolves 7, Richmond Flying Squirrels 6 (box)
The SeaWolves stormed back from an early deficit and then held off a furious comeback attempt from the Squirrels to win their home, and season, opener on Friday evening.
Brett Callahan, one of my favorite sleeper prospects in the Tigers’ system for his power, fly ball hitting tendencies, and quality defense and arm, opened the scoring with a one out 423 foot solo shot in the bottom of the first.
Lefty Joe Miller’s velocity is suddenly way up this spring, and that’s pretty surprising from a 27-year-old journeyman starter. It didn’t help him much in the top of the second, as the Squirrels dragged him through a long inning and scored three runs.
Miller settled in after that, but Trevin Michael took over with two outs in the top of the fourth to clean up that inning. John Peck hammered a doubled in the bottom half, but Callahan, Izaac Pacheco, and Justice Bigbie all struck out as starter Greg Farone gave them trouble all night.
Peyton Graham singled through the box with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, and that finally knocked Farone out of the game. Dylan Hecht came on to clean up the inning for the Squirrels. Eric Silva pitched the top of the sixth for Erie, issuing a walk but no more. Moises Rodriguez and the sinker of doom handled the seventh without issue, and then the SeaWolves finally broke loose at the plate.
Dylan Carmouche came on for Richmond, and Bigbie and Chris Meyers greeted him with single. A wild pitch advanced the runners and Andrew Jenkins torched an impressive line drive homer to straightaway center field that gave Erie a sudden 4-3 lead.
Graham strafed a triple the opposite way into the right field corner and Bennett Lee was hit by a pitch. Seth Stephenson doubled off the wall in left center, scoring Graham, but Lee was thrown out at the plate. Richmond went back to their pen, and Mitch White immediately plunked Callahan. Peck struck out, but Stephenson and Callaham pulled off a double steal and Pacheco walked to load the bases. A Bigbie single up the middle plated two more runs and made it 7-3.
Moises Rodriguez and the sinker of doom were wild in the eighth after watching a big lead pile up. He issued two walks and then a double that scored two. Suddenly it was 7-5, and Tanner Kohlhepp took over. He gave up a double that made it 7-6, but got a pair of fly outs to end the inning.
Kohlhepp came back out in the ninth and collected the first save of the year.
Graham: 2-3, R, 3B, BB, K
Callahan: 1-2, 2 R, RBI, HR, K, HBP
Peck: 1-4, 2B, K
Miller: 3.2 IP, 3 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 1:35 p.m. ET start in Erie on Saturday.
West Michigan Whitecaps 6, Lake County Captains 4 (box)
The ‘Caps made it two in a row with a furious late inning rally and add-on runs in the eighth and ninth to run their record to 2-0 for first year manager Rene Rivera.
RHP Lucas Elissalt was the opening day starter in this one, and he was solid for two innings before digging himself a hole with a pair of walks to start the third. There was much hard contact, but he gave up a pair of runs and the long inning ended his night.
Overall, the Whitecaps’ offense really struggled through six innings. In the seventh, Cristian Santana was hit by a pitch to start the inning, and with one out, Hunter Dobbins walked. An infield single from Clayton Campbell loaded the bases, and Patrick Lee came up with a rocket of a single to the center fielder to plate two runs and tie the game. A Woody Hadeen sac fly scored Campbell to take the lead, and after Lake County went to the pen, Roberto Campos singled in Lee before the inning came to an end.
Carlos Marcano, another sleeper prospect on my list, handled the sixth with a 1-2-3 inning. Offseason minor league signing RHP Ryan Harvey took over in the seventh, and he promptly hit a batter and got into trouble, allowing two runs that tied the game before getting out of jam.
In the eighth, Junior Tilien walked with one out and Dobbins reached on an infield single. Campbell smoked a line drive single to center field to load the bases, and Lee came through again with a sac fly that recaptured the lead at 5-4. Garrett Pennington launched a solo shot in the top of the ninth to open a little margin for Nicaraguan right-hander Duque Hebbert. Hebbert got into trouble due to a one-out double from Jaison Chourio and a walk, but a strikeout and a ground out to second wrapped it up and earned him the save.
Lee: 1-3, R, 3 RBI, K
Campos: 2-3, 2 BB
Dobbins: 2-3, R, BB, K
Elissalt: 3.0 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 1:00 p.m. ET start on Saturday.
Lakeland Flying Tigers 12, Tampa Tarpons 7 (box)
The Flying Tigers opened their 2026 campaign in Tampa, rallying back from an early deficit and pouring it on in the middle innings for a comfortable victory.
The Flying Tigers got right to work, as Jesus Pinto led off the game with a single. Bryce Rainer ripped a ground ball to second, but beat out the attempted double play. A rehabbing Hao-Yu Lee flew out, but Carson Rucker drilled a double to left to plate Rainer, and Jack Goodman singled to make it 2-0.
Sawyer Gipson-Long made his first rehab appearance, working back from a left hip labrum repair, and he punched out the first two hitters he saw and got a flyout in a snappy first. However, he gave up a double to start the bottom of the second, and a pair of errors by catcher Sergio Tapia didn’t help, as a pair of runs scored to tie the game. RHP Donye Evans took over with two outs, but gave up an two-run single before getting out of the inning.
So, it was 4-2 Tampa entering the third. Rainer led off with a walk, and after Hao-Yu Lee and Rucker struck out, Goodman walked and a wild pitch moved the runners to second and third. First baseman Beau Ankeney, the Tigers’ 14th rounder last summer out of Loyola, proceeded to absolutely hammer a line drive single at a whopping 114.4 mph off the bat to score both runners and tie the game 4-4.
The inning kept on going from there. Zach MacDonald doubled to left to score Ankeney, sending the Tarpons back to the pen. New reliever Justin West walked Tapia, Nolan McCarthy, Jesus Pinto, and Rainer in order, and it was 7-4. Ah…Single-A ball. Hao-Yu Lee completed the scoring with an infield single to plate McCarthy and make it 8-4.
At this point, we got our first look at last year’s third rounder out of Arizona State, LHP Ben Jacobs. We like Jacobs as our scouting report attests. It’s just a question of how much upside he has left in his stuff. He was a little shaky in his pro debut, walking the leadoff hitter and giving up a stolen base and then an RBI single that made it 8-5, but the southpaw got a flyout and then punched out the next two hitters, showing a good 93-95 mph fourseamer and a pretty advanced changeup as well.
The walk parade from Tampa pitching handed the Flygers two more runs in the fourth. Yankees prospect Greysen Carter was very wild, but finally composed himself enough to blow Rainer away with a 99.6 mph heater to end a pretty ugly inning. 10-5 Lakeland.
Jacobs looked good in the fourth, collecting another pair of strikeouts, though he did allow a walk in the inning.
Benjamin Arias took over from Carter in the fifth and issued a one-out walk to Rucker, who promptly stole second. Goodman walked as well, and Ankeney singled in Rucker on another pretty hard hit ball. Goodman scored when Tapia grounded to shortstop and it was misplayed. 12-5 Lakeland.
Jacobs was really feeling it as he settled in, and probably isn’t long for Single-A. He struck out the side in fifth and then allowed just a single in the sixth, facing the minimum as the Tarpons’ Hans Montero singled but was just down by McCarthy from left field. Jacobs showed advanced control of all three pitches and racked up 14 whiffs, averaging 94 mph with his fourseamer. He topped out at 95.9 and the life on the fourseamer was pretty explosive. He looks already tuned up to where I hoped the Tigers could get him in a year or two. Really impressive.
Pedro Garcia leaked a pair of runs in the seventh, while RHP Jorger Petri came on with two outs in the eight and closed this one out without issue.
Beyond Ankeney’s scorcher, Jesus Pinto hit a ball 108.7 mph and Goodman posted a 107.6 mph exit velo as well. Tough first game back for Rainer, who struck out three times, though he did walk twice.
Ankeney: 2-4, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB, 2 K
Rucker: 2-5, 2 R, RBI, 2B, BB, 2 K, SB
MacDonald: 2-5, 2 R, RBI, 2B, 2 BB, SB, CS
Gipson-Long: 1.2 IP, 4 R, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 K
Jacobs: 4.0 IP, ER, 2 H, 2 BB, 7 K
Coming Up Next: It’s a 6:30 p.m. ET start at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Saturday.
