Ninth Inning Comeback Not Enough, Bradenton Drops Series Finale

JUPITER, FL — For the third time this week, the Bradenton Marauders dropped a one-run contest after falling 5-4 to the Palm Beach Cardinals on Sunday afternoon at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium.

Palm Beach jumped ahead in the bottom of the first against Clevari Tejada. Ater Christian Martin was hit by a pitch to start the frame, Chase Adkison reached on an error before Martin moved to third base on a flyout and scored on a Ryan Campos fielders choice.

Bradenton tied the game at one in the second against Augusto Calderon. Justin Miknis worked a one-out walk and then scored on a Miguel Sosa double to tie the game at one. Jeral Toledo doubled as well but Sosa was held up at third base. Calderon retired the next two batters to strand a pair in scoring position.

The Cardinals took a lead again in the third after Martin led off with a walk before scoring a few batters later on another Camps groundout. With a 2-1 lead into the fifth, Martin started the inning again with a single and advancing to second on a wild pitch from Peyton Stumbo. He scored two batters later on an RBI single from Ian Petruz to make it 3-1 Cardinals.

The Marauders supplied a few two-out hits to tie the game in the sixth. After Angel Cuenca retired the first two hitters, Shalin Polanco and Jhonny Severino recorded back-to-back doubles to trim the deficit to 3-2. Miknis then singled to centerfield to tie the game at three.

Garrett McMillan (3-4) retired the side in order in his first inning out of the bullpen before Palm Beach took the game’s final lead in the seventh. Jon Jon Gazdar singled and then scored two batters later on a home run from Chase Adkison to push Palm Beach in front 5-3.

After Nolan Sparks (2-0) tossed a scoreless frame, Henry Gomez (SV,9) came out for the eighth and ninth. In the eighth, Bradenton had a pair of chances after Gomez issued a one-out walk and single before he retired the next two batters.

In the ninth, Sosa singled and Keiner Delgado was hit by a pitch to place the tying runs on base with one out. After Omar Alfonzo grounded into a fielders choice to place runners at the corners, Yordany De Los Santos hit an infield single to cut the Palm Beach lead again to one at 5-4 before Gomez induced a game-ending groundout to close out the contest.

After an off-day on Monday, the Marauders travel 40 minutes north to battle the St. Lucie Mets at Clover Park to wrap up their season-long 12-game road trip. First pitch on Tuesday is scheduled for 6:10 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 5:50 p.m. on the Marauders Broadcast Network.