Big First Inning Leads Cardinals Past Marauders 18-6

Big First Inning Leads Cardinals Past Marauders 18-6

Bradenton, Fla. – Paced by a nine-run first inning, the Palm Beach Cardinals powered past the Bradenton Marauders 18-6 on Thursday night at LECOM Park.

With no score in the top of the first, the Cardinals loaded the bases on two singles and a walk. With nobody out, Marauders starter Clevari Tejada retired the next two hitters he faced. With two away, the Cardinals surged for nine runs, finishing the inning having sent 13 hitters to the plate to make it 9-0.

After tacking on one more in the top of the fourth, Palm Beach rallied for eight more runs in the top of the fifth to push their lead to 18-0.

In the bottom of the fifth, the Marauders began to chip away when Solomon Maguire, Konnor Griffin and Braylon Bishop drew three consecutive walks to load the bases with one out. The next hitter was Axiel Plaz who lined a double to right center that cleared the bases to make it 18-3.

In the bottom of the sixth, the Marauders loaded the bases again, when Andrew Patrick, Joel Mendez, and Solomon Maguire drew three consecutive walks. With one out, Griffin sent a sacrifice fly to right to bring home Patrick and make it 18-4. In the process he collected his first professional run batted in.

After another walk to Bishop, Plaz stepped to the plate and lined a two-run single to center that capped scoring at 18-6.

Plaz finished the night with five runs batted in and now has nine through the first three games of the series.

Throughout the night, both the Cardinals and Marauders pitching staffs combined to walk 24 hitters. Bradenton used a season-high seven hurlers.

Right hander Jake Shirk was a bright spot out of the pen, tossing two shutout innings while allowing just one hit.

With the loss, the Marauders fell to 2-4 while the Cardinals advanced to 4-2. The two will return to LECOM Park tomorrow for game four of the series at 6:30 p.m. Coverage begins at 6:15 p.m. on MiLB.TV and the Marauders Broadcast Network.