The FCL Mets had a great regular season as they finished with the best win percentage in the league (32-18, .640). However, their season came to an abrupt end on Thursday when they lost in the FCL semifinals to the Braves, 7-1 at Clover Park. It was rough day for the defense as the team made five errors, which resulted in only three of the seven runs being earned.

Colin Houck, Photo by Ed Delany of Metsmerized

Even though the team look the loss, first Round pick Colin Houck ended up having a solid game at the plate. Houck, who was the DH on Thursday, went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and a strikeout. Houck had a slash line of .241/.389/.310  with four RBIs in 9 games during the regular season.

The two teams were scoreless in the first three innings, but the Braves were able to break it open in the fourth against Franklin Gómez. After Gomez made an error, the Braves had a single, a hit by a pitch, and a walk to score a run. Then, a two-run double by Will King put Atlanta ahead 3-0 and chased Gomez from the game.

On the day, Gomez went three innings, allowed five runs (two earned) on two hits, walked three, and struck out four. The 18-year-old left-hander hadn’t struck out fewer than five batters in an outing since June 23, so certainly bright things are ahead for him.

Gregori Louis came in after Gomez and even though he allowed inherited runners to score in that inning, the 20-year-old left-hander had a career-high seven strikeouts  in three innings of work (one unearned run allowed, one hit, one walk), The four Mets pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts of their own while allowing four hits.

Outside of Houck, the Mets got hits from Marco Vargas, Ronald Hernandez, and Dyron Campos. The only run that the Mets scored came in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI groundout by Hernandez.

The offense combined to strike out 10 times. It will be interesting to see whether some of these FCL players will go to finish the year at Low-A St. Lucie for the final couple of weeks or begin their offseasons early before extended spring training.