Tortugas Sink Marauders 8-4 in 11 Innings
BRADENTON, FL — For the second straight day, nine innings of baseball was not enough for the Bradenton Marauders and Daytona Tortugas as the Tortugas defeated the Marauders 8-4 in 11 innings on Thursday night at LECOM Park. Daytona jumped ahead on the very first batter of the game against
BRADENTON, FL — For the second straight day, nine innings of baseball was not enough for the Bradenton Marauders and Daytona Tortugas as the Tortugas defeated the Marauders 8-4 in 11 innings on Thursday night at LECOM Park.
Daytona jumped ahead on the very first batter of the game against Antwone Kelly as Johnny Ascanio clubbed a solo home run to right field.
The Marauders tied the game at one in the bottom of the third on an Andrés Alvarez RBI double before the Tortugas retook the lead in the third. Ricardo Cabrera singled and Ariel Almonte homered to give them the lead again at 3-1.
Bradenton’s offense chipped away with a run in the fifth on an Omar Alfonzo RBI single to make it 3-2 Daytona. Juan Jerez then tied the game on a single to score Jauri Custodio and tie the game at three.
Out of the bullpen, Connor Oliver and Garrett McMillan each tossed three scoreless innings to keep the game tied. In the ninth, Cabrera led off with a double against McMillan before he retired the side in order to give Bradenton a chance to win the contest.
Bradenton nearly won the game in the bottom of the ninth after Jose Moreno issued a pair of two out walks. Alfonzo then laced a single to left field, but Jesus Castillo was thrown out at home by Yerlin Confidan to push the game to extra innings.
In the 10th, Confidan singled to begin the inning to place runners at first and third with nobody out. Dominic Pitelli came to the plate as a pinch hitter and hit a high flyball to centerfield. Shalin Polanco made the catch and fired home to nab the extra runner in Connor Burns for a double play. McMillan worked around the traffic to complete his scoreless outing.
In the bottom half of the inning, Bradenton had the bases loaded with one out against Cody Adcock (1-0) who induced a fielder’s choice to Custodio and struck out Juan Jerez to force another inning.
Daytona ended up plating five runs against Tyler Kennedy (0-2) in the 11th with the go-ahead run scoring on a Yassel Pino sacrifice fly. Burns singled home Ariel Almonte to make it 5-3 Daytona and Confidan tripled home two more while scoring on a wild pitch to complete the five-run frame.
The Marauders still had a chance in the home half of the inning after PJ Hilson notched a pinch-hit RBI single to trim the lead to 8-4. Jeral Toledo walked to load the bases for Polanco who represented the tying run at the plate. Polanco popped out to third to end the contest.
The Marauders and Tortugas will continue their six-game series on Friday night at LECOM Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 6:10 p.m. on the Marauders Broadcast Network. Bradenton will send RHP Carlson Reed (0-0, 2.57) to the mound, opposite of LHP Adam Serwinowski (0-0, 0.00) for the Tortugas.