Tebow walks it off as St. Lucie caps sweep

Even Tim Tebow's biggest detractors haven't been able to deny the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner's competitive spirit.
"You know what I really like? I really like competing. I really like stuff like the last at-bat," Tebow told TCPalm.com recently. "You just have fun and compete. I don't know, I just love it."
Those words rang particularly true for the Mets outfield prospect Thursday. Tebow took the first pitch he saw in the seventh inning deep to left field for a walk-off home run, giving Class A Advanced St. Lucie a 5-4 win over Daytona in Game 2 of a doubleheader. The shot extended his hitting streak to 11 games.

After going 1-for-2 with a single to right field in the Mets' 1-0 victory in Game 1, Tebow was hit by Tortugas starter Jake Paulson to start the second in Game 2 with St. Lucie down by four runs. He moved to second on Anthony Dimino's single to right and reached third on Jose Garcia's flyout to center before scoring on Michael Paez's single to put the Mets on the board.
After St. Lucie cut the deficit in half, Tebow came up in the third with Mets No. 8 prospectPeter Alonso and No. 19 Jhoan Urena on base, but Paulson struck him out on three pitches. Garcia and Paez singled in runs to tie the game, 4-4, and the score remained that way until the bottom of the seventh.
Alonso led off the frame by popping out in foul territory, bringing Tebow to the plate with his hitting streak on the line. The 29-year-old outfielder quickly ended any suspense with his opposite-field home run to left off Austin Orewiler (3-2). It was Tebow's third long ball in 16 games with St. Lucie and sixth in 80 games in the Minors this season.
Tebow's batting line sits at .327/.421/.551 after he hit .220/.311/.336 with Columbia, and his 10 RBIs are 13 short of his South Atlantic League total in one-quarter of the games.

Reds No. 12 prospectChris Okey went 3-for-4 with a double and a run scored, while ninth-ranked Alfredo Rodriguez doubled twice.
Alonso's homer in the fourth inning of the opener plated the lone run of the game. Joe Shaw (5-5) went the distance, scattering five hits and two walks while striking out four over seven frames, outdueling No. 10 Reds prospect Vladimir Gutierrez (5-8), who allowed one run on four hits over five innings.