The St. Louis Cardinals Low A affiliate, the Palm Beach Cardinals, defeated the Lakeland Flying Tigers on Wednesday to win the 2024 Florida State League Championship. It was the third League title since the affiliate started back in 2003. They won in 2005 and were in slated to play in the 2017 Championship, but Hurricane Irma caused the games to be cancelled, so they shared the League title with the Dunedin Blue Jays.
The Cardinals won the 2024 first half with a 37-29 record in the East Division, and then posted an even more dominating 46-18 second half, for an overall 83-47 record. They won the division by 18 games, while ending the season on a five game winning streak, with victories in eight of their last 10 games. As for Lakeland, they finished the first half in second place (42-23), and took over first place over the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels, during their end of season series to finish overall at 80-50.
In Game one of the Championship Series, the Flying Tigers took a 5-1 lead in the third, only to see the Cardinals overcome the deficit to take a 6-5 lead with two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth. But Lakeland would steal the game with two in the bottom of the eighth in an 8-6 win.
Game two started out with Lakeland grabbing an early 2-0 lead, but Palm Beach battled back to tie the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the second. Then after the Flying Tigers retook the lead in the fourth at 3-2, the Cardinals scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth and didn’t look back, posting an 8-4 series tying victory.
The view from the booth on the final call from @ErlandsenPxP pic.twitter.com/IjAuEHdJZm
— Palm Beach Cardinals (@GoPBCardinals) September 19, 2024
On Wednesday, with the series tied at 1-1, and the deciding game of a three-game series, Palm Beach came out swinging, posting two runs in the first and one in the second to take an early 3-0 lead. But the Flying Tigers were not ready to pack it in, as they scored one in the fourth and two in the fifth to tie the game at 3-3.
Lakeland retired 14 straight Cardinals batters leading up to the seventh inning. And just when it looked like the Flying Tigers had the upper hand, the Cardinals took advantage of a fielding error to open up the bottom of the seventh. Then after a walk, a strikeout and flyout, Cardinals Bryce Madron hit an RBI double putting them in the lead at 4-3. Then JJ Wetherholt tripled to center field, scoring two more runners to increase the Palm Beach lead to 6-4.
The Flying Tigers made it a one-run game after a solo home run from Jack Penney in the top of the eighth, but a 1-2-3 ninth, secured the Cardinals championship victory.
Congratulations to the Palm Beach Cardinals!!
Photo Courtesy of the Palm Beach Cardinals
Championship Series’ Standouts
Palm Beach
Bryce Madron – .478 BA (11 for 23), 6 Runs, 2 Doubles, 7 RBIs
JJ Wetherholt – .421 BA (8 for 19), 4 Runs, Triple, HR, 6 RBIs
Ian Petrutz – .400 BA (8 for 20), 4 Runs, 2 Doubles, HR, 5 RBIs
Joshua Baez – .353 BA (6 for 17), 8 Runs, Double, Triple, HR, 3 RBIs
Lakeland
Franyerber Montilla – .379 BA (11 for 29), 6 Runs, 3 Doubles, 2 Triples, 5 RBIs
Jose De La Cruz – .353 BA (6 for 17), 3 Runs, 2 Doubles, 2 HRs, 6 RBIs
