Dominant Pitching Powers Marauders Win

BRADENTON, Fla. — Three Marauders pitchers contributed to a stingy mound effort in a 3-2 win Saturday night over the Lakeland Flying Tigers.

Marauders (18-11, 47-47) hurlers Carlos Campos, Mitchell Miller, and Johan Montero combined to retire 18 of the last 20 Lakeland (12-15, 44-49) batters of the game. Montero earned the save, tossing three hitless innings.

Cristian Santana led off the game with a home run to left field off Campos. The right-hander allowed two more hits in the first inning but escaped the frame with a double-play grounder.

The Marauders immediately rallied ahead in the bottom of the first. Tsung-Che Cheng drew a leadoff walk from Williander Moreno, then stole second base and took third on an errant throw into center field on the play. Sergio Campana tied the game, 1-1, with a single to left-center to plate Cheng, and Bubba Chandler following by lining a go-ahead RBI-double to right-center.

Chandler recorded his second straight two-hit game, while Jauri Custodio went 3-for-4 in just his second game at Single-A. Campana’s single, along with a walk, extended his season-best on-base streak to 11 games.

Cheng added a sacrifice fly to left field in the second to extend the Marauders’ lead to 3-1, but the Flying Tigers struck back in the third on a Manuel Sequera single, cutting the margin to 3-2.

Campos continued on the mound for the fourth, allowing back-to-back singles to Justice Bigbie and Eduardo Valencia to begin the inning before striking out the next three straight batters, stranding the tying and go-ahead runs.

Moreno went five innings for Lakeland, holding Bradenton scoreless over his final three innings, but took the loss. Reliever Cam Brown pitched the final three frames for the visitors, allowing four hits but stranding five baserunners as the Marauders failed to add onto their one-run lead.

Campos’ three strikeouts to complete the fourth, meanwhile, began the dominant stretch for Bradenton pitching. Left-hander Mitchell Miller allowed a stray double to Sequera in his first of two scoreless innings before turning the game over to Montero for the seventh.

The series concludes Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 12 p.m. at LECOM Park. RHP Po-Yu Chen will start for the Marauders, while Lakeland will counter with LHP Carlos Pena.

For more information about the Bradenton Marauders, please call (941) 747-3031, visit BradentonMarauders.com, or email [email protected].

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