How Sweep It Is: Marauders Win Both Games in Lakeland on Saturday Night

LAKELAND, FL — For the first time in 2024, the Bradenton Marauders sweep a doubleheader, defeating the Lakeland Flying Tigers 3-2 in eight innings in game one and 4-3 in game two on Saturday afternoon at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

In game one, Bradenton jumped ahead in the first inning on an Esmerlyn Valdez solo-home run, his 18th of the season.

Lakeland quickly tied and took the lead in the second against Antwone Kelly. Kelly walked Jose De La Cruz and Andrew Jenkins singled to place two runners on with nobody out. After a sacrifice bunt from Eduardo Valdencia moved both runners over, both scored on a sacrifice fly from Jackson Strong and a double from Nomar Fana to give Lakeland a 2-1 edge. In his first start since the end of June, Kelly allowed two runs on two hits while striking out two in 2.1 innings.

The scoreline remained the same until Javier Rivas tied the game with a solo-home run off Andrew Sears. Sears also walked two and hit another in the sixth to load the bases with two-outs but were unable to push a run across.

Luigi Hernandez (3-2) allowed a pair of singles in the seventh but left two stranded on base to force extra-innings. In the eighth, Keiner Delgado swung at the first pitch thrown by Ronny Chalas (1-1) and bounced it back up the middle to score the extra runner in Jhonny Severino to push the Marauders back in front 3-2. Herandez issued a one-out walk in the bottom of the frame but retired the next two batters to end the contest.

In game two, Bradenton scored in the first inning again for the fourth time in the first five games. Delgado and Duce Gourson connected on back-to-back singles which placed runners at the corners with one out. Hayden Minton (4-5) threw a wild pitch that scored Delgado from third to give Bradenton a 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Axiel Plaz singled in Gourson to double the Bradenton lead to 2-0.

The Marauders added two more on a Gourson automatic double to left field to drive home two more and double the Bradenton advantage to 4-0. The 2024 9th Round selection finished the night 3-for-3 with a double, two RBIs, a walk, and run scored.

Lakeland plated their first run against Clevari Tejada in the fifth. Three straight Tigers reached on a single, walk, and hit by pitch to load the bases. Tejada struck out the next batter before issuing a two-out walk to David Smith to drive in a run and the cut the Bradenton lead to 4-1. Hunter Furtado (3-4) entered and struck out Nomar Fana to end the threat.

In the sixth, the first three reached as well against Furtado before he retired the next three batters in a row to end the bases loaded jam again. In the seventh against Greiber Mendez (SV,1), Smith walked and then scored on a Jose De La Cruz two-out, two-run home run to bring the tying run to the plate in Peyton Graham. The Minor League rehabber grounded out to end the game.

In both games, Bradenton's pitching staff limited Lakeland's offense to hit just 2-for-20 with runners in scoring position.

The Marauders and Flying Tigers wrap up their series on Sunday afternoon at Joker Marchant Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 12:00 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 11:40 a.m. on the Marauders Broadcast Network.