Late-Inning Life Leads Marauders Past Mussels 6-3
Late-Inning Life Leads Marauders Past Mussels 6-3 Fort Myers, Fla. – The Bradenton Marauders snapped their four-game losing streak with a 6-3 win over the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels on Thursday night at Hammond Stadium. Pitching led the way through the first half of the game, as both sides didn’t
Late-Inning Life Leads Marauders Past Mussels 6-3
Fort Myers, Fla. – The Bradenton Marauders snapped their four-game losing streak with a 6-3 win over the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels on Thursday night at Hammond Stadium.
Pitching led the way through the first half of the game, as both sides didn’t record a hit until the top of the fifth.
The Mussels notched their first in the bottom of the frame when Jose Rodriguez led off with a single. The next hitter was Daniel Pena, who rocketed a double to the left-field corner that brought home Rodriguez to give the Mussels a 1-0 lead.
Two hitters later, Yohander Martinez lined a single to left that scored Pena and extended the lead to 2-0.
In the top of the sixth, Bradenton answered back. Leading off the inning, Konnor Griffin singled and stole second. With one out, Jhonny Severino sent a single to right to score Griffin and cut the deficit to 2-1.
Later in the frame, Yordany De Los Santos cracked an RBI double to right to knot the game at 2-2.
The next hitter was Camden Janik, who served an RBI single to right to score De Los Santos and give Bradenton a 3-2 lead.
Still leading 3-2 in the top of the seventh, the Marauders rallied again when Griffin singled, stole second and then swiped third. With one out, Severino rolled a grounder to short to bring home to run and extend the Marauders lead to two runs.
After Fort Myers added a run back on Jay Thomason’s solo homerun in the bottom of the seventh, Bradenton applied more pressure in the top of the eighth.
Joel Mendez led off the inning with a double to center and Andrew Patrick was hit by a pitch. After both runners advanced to second and third on a sacrifice bunt, Griffin rolled a grounder to first to bring home Mendez and make it 5-3.
Later in the frame, Patrick raced home on an errant back-pick attempt to third to cap scoring at 6-3.
Reliever Jake Shirk tossed two scoreless innings to secure the victory and six-out save.
With the win, Bradenton moved to 4-8 on the season, while Fort Myers fell to 6-6. The two return to Hammond Stadium tomorrow for game four of the series with first pitch slated for 7:05 p.m. Coverage begins at 6:50 on the Marauders Broadcast Network.