Bradenton Fall After Late Rally
Clearwater, Fla. — The Marauders (20-14) kicked off a six-game road series at Clearwater (25-9) on Tuesday night in front of a capacity crowd at BayCare Ballpark. The Threshers piled on twelve runs in the first half of the game, and despite a late push from the boys in black
Clearwater, Fla. — The Marauders (20-14) kicked off a six-game road series at Clearwater (25-9) on Tuesday night in front of a capacity crowd at BayCare Ballpark. The Threshers piled on twelve runs in the first half of the game, and despite a late push from the boys in black and yellow, Clearwater would narrowly escape the game with a 12-10 win.
Big leaguer Tyler Chatwood started for the Marauders and pitched a perfect inning in his first competitive outing of the 2023 season at any level. The Threshers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning, with an RBI single and three-run home run being the crucial run-scoring moments in the frame.
The Threshers continued their run fest in the third when they tacked on another pair of runs. The fourth inning saw Bradenton fight back; Termarr Johnson led off the inning with a line-drive single to left, and Geovanny Planchart then drove his first homer of the season deep to left to cut the deficit to four. Shalin Polanco then homered the first pitch of the next at-bat to make it a 6-3 game.
The Threshers really piled on the damage in the fifth inning when they scored five runs, capped off with a grand slam to dead center to put the Marauders behind 12-3 with four innings to go.
The game went stale through the sixth and seventh innings before the Baby Buccos rallied. After putting up four runs in the eighth, the ‘Ders entered the ninth inning with something to prove. Three men walked in the ninth to load the bases with one away in the inning; Javier Rivas then doubled off the wall in right to cut the deficit to three.
With the score at 12-9, Geovanny Planchart grounded out but brought in a run on the ball in play to cut the chase down to just two runs. After a Shalin Polanco single, Alexander Mojica came to the plate with the tying run on first. Mojica worked the count full but would go down looking to end the ball game and give Clearwater the 12-10 win.
Owen Kellington will start for Bradenton on Wednesday, with the first pitch scheduled at Noon.