Lalane Leads the Way as Tarpons Cruise Past Cardinals

TAMPA, Fla. – The Tampa Tarpons (28-27) got back on track against the Palm Beach Cardinals (30-25) with an 8-1 victory, marking the third run-away win of the series for the Tarpons.

Henry Lalane earned his first win of the season. The Yankees’ 14th ranked prospect posted 5.1 innings pitched, struck out six, and surrendered only one run.

Logan Maxwell and Willy Montero led the Tarps’ offense today. Maxwell put together a three-hit performance to raise his average to .304 on the year while Willy extended his hitting streak to 13 games and is batting .380 during that stretch.

Maxwell put Tampa on the board early by sending one into the seats, giving them a 1-0 after two innings.

It was all Tarpons in the middle innings. A four-run fourth inning featured a pair of two-run blasts, first from Willy, whose drive to left bounced off the top of the wall and over for a home run, then from Engelth Urena, who followed with a blast of his own. The momentum carried into the fifth when JoJo Jackson drove in two runs on a groundball single through the left side of the infield, extending the lead to 7-0.

Palm Beach broke through in the top of the sixth as they capitalized on a Tarpons’ miscue, trimming the lead to six.

Tampa got it right back in the bottom of the seventh when Willy Montero blasted a ball into the right-center field gap for an RBI triple.

The Cardinals tallied one more run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly, but it was too little too late as the Tarpons took this one with a final score of 8-1.

Tampa looks to claim a series victory tomorrow against Palm Beach with first pitch slated for 6:30 p.m.