Marauders Win Fourth Straight Saturday Night

BRADENTON, Fla. — The Marauders overcame a late one-run deficit Saturday night and staved off trouble in the ninth in a 7-5 win over the Palm Beach Cardinals at LECOM Park.

The win was the fourth straight for the Marauders (27-14, 56-50), who have now won seven of their last eight games and remain two games ahead of Tampa for first place in the FSL West.

Trailing, 4-3, Bradenton assembled a one-out rally in the bottom of the seventh inning against Cardinals (23-18, 53-52) reliever Bryan Pope. Tsung-Che Cheng reached second base on a booted grounder by third baseman R.J. Yeager, and after Sergio Campana drew a walk, Tanner Tredaway, making his Single-A debut, lined a ball past a diving Nathan Church in left field, plating both Cheng and Campana for a go-ahead, two-run double. After a pitching change brought right-hander Matt Hickey into the game, Wyatt Hendrie drove Tredaway home with a single off the right-field wall for a 6-4 lead.

Hendrie would finish the game 3-for-4, while Cheng contributed two hits. Each of the nine players in the Marauders’ lineup reached base safely in the game.

After Cheng added an RBI-double in the eighth, Yunior Thibo labored on the mound in the ninth inning for Bradenton. The right-hander allowed back-to-back singles to Jeremy Rivas and Victor Scott to open the frame, then saw Rivas score on a Brody Moore groundout. A popout followed for the second out, and after a walk to Elijah Cabell placed the tying run on base, Nathan Church torched a 2-2 pitch from Thibo to deep right-center, but center fielder Sergio Campana made a leaping catch near the wall to end the game.

The two teams maintained a tight score all evening. Palm Beach’s Alex Iadisernia hit an RBI-single in the top of the second inning off Joelvis Del Rosario for the game’s first run, but the Marauders promptly tied the score in the home half on a Juan Jerez RBI-groundout.

The score remained tied, 1-1, until the bottom of the fourth, when Jack Brannigan launched a solo homer to right-center off Jose Davila, and Jerez drew a walk and later scored on a wild pitch for a 3-1 Bradenton advantage. Davila would not pitch beyond the fourth, walking four batters and allowing three runs on four hits.

Aside from allowing a Thomas Francisco solo homer in the top of the fifth that brought the score to 3-2, Del Rosario remained relatively steady through five innings for the Marauders, but struggled in the sixth. A one-out walk and a Yeager double placed two in scoring position for Iadisernia, who lined a game-tying RBI-single. Darlin Moquete then knocked Del Rosario from the game with a go-ahead sacrifice fly to center field.

Johan Montero took over for Del Rosario and stranded Iadisernia on third base and finished with two and one-thirds scoreless innings of relief, striking out three and earning the win.

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 RHP Trent Baker will start for Palm Beach.

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

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