Navarro Earns First Win in Shutout Fashion

Bradenton, Fla. - The Marauders (21-33) secured their first shutout win of the season 3-0 over the Jupiter Hammerheads (28-25) on Friday night at McKechnie Field. Eliecer Navarro (W, 1-9) pitched seven scoreless innings for Bradenton to earn his first win of the season.

The game was scoreless until the seventh inning. Bradenton was blanked for the first five innings by Justin Nicolino, who has thrown 15 scoreless innings against Bradenton this season. Kevin Cravey (L, 2-3)pitched a scoreless sixth and retired the first two batters of the seventh before a two-out single by Taylor Lewis. Carlos Mesa followed with an RBI-double to put Navarro in line for his first win.

Navarro ended the Marauders five-game losing streak with his longest start of the season. The lefty struck out seven and walked one. He surrendered three hits and only allowed one runner to reach third base.

Bradenton added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth inning to extend the lead to three. Matt Benedict collected the final six outs for the first save of his professional career. Benedict struck out the side in the ninth.

Game two of the series is Saturday night at 6:30 p.m. Gates open at 5:30 p.m. The Marauders will dress in Bradenton Growers jerseys to celebrate Bradenton's rich baseball history on Turn Back the Clock Night. The Growers were McKechnie Field's first tenants 90 year ago.