Eight-Run Eighth Spurs Comeback 

WP: Eiberson Castellano (1-0, 6.55)

LP: Darvin Garcia (BS (2), 2-2, 4.94)

SV: Wen-Hui Pan (4)

BOX SCORE:

BRADENTON, FL – A go-ahead grand slam by Cade Fergus completed a comeback from 4-0 down as the Clearwater Threshers (50-23, 6-2) rallied to beat the Bradenton Marauders (39-34, 4-4) 9-6 on Sunday afternoon at LECOM Park. The Threshers finish their season series with the Marauders on Monday evening in Bradenton.

A leadoff triple and a sacrifice fly plated the first run of the game for the Marauders in the first inning. They added three more in the third on another sacrifice fly and a Josiah Sightler two-run homer to bring the lead to 4-0.

Felix Reyes walked with one out in the eighth inning and Ryan Leitch moved him to third on a single off Marauders reliever Carlos Lomeli. Chad Castillo drove in Reyes to bring in the Threshers first run of the game before Jordan Viars loaded the bases with another single. After Darvin Garcia came out of the bullpen to replace Lomeli, Fergus gave the Threshers their first lead of the game with a go-ahead grand slam that made it 5-4.

Matt Alifano and Troy Schreffler both walked, and Ricardo Rosario singled to load the bases. Reyes drove in two with a single to make it 7-4. On the very next pitch, the first one from newly entered Bradenton reliever Miguel Fulgencio, Leitch knocked in Rosario with his third hit of the day to bring the Threshers lead up to 8-4.

Another home run by Sightler cut the Threshers lead in half to 8-6 in the home half of the eighth. Jordan Viars led off the ninth with a single, and Schreffler drove him in with an opposite-field knock to extend the advantage to 9-6. Clearwater closed out the ninth despite a one-out hit to secure their 50th win of the year in a 9-6 victory.

Jonathan Petit allowed four runs on three hits in 5.0 innings with six strikeouts in a no-decision. McKinley Moore allowed one hit and struck out three of the four batters he faced in 1.0 scoreless inning. Eiberson Castellano (1-0) allowed two runs on three hits with one walk and two strikeouts. Wen-Hui Pan earned the save in 2.0 shutout innings, striking out three with one hit allowed.

The Threshers became the sixth team in all of baseball to reach 50 wins...They are the first team lower than AAA to reach 50 wins in the season...The eight-run eighth was the most the Threshers have scored in a single inning this year...The 4-0 deficit in the eighth marked the Threshers’ largest comeback win of the year...Leitch set a career-high with three hits...Reyes extended his hit streak to ten games...It is the fourth time a Threshers hitter has recorded a hit streak of ten or more games (Crawford (2X), Kemp)…Fergus’ grand slam was his second of the season and the Threshers’ third...His four RBIs tied his career-high...Petit tied a career-high with 5.0 innings pitched and tied a season-high with six strikeouts...It is his second consecutive start against the Marauders where he struck out six without walking a batter...Threshers conclude their road series against the Bradenton Marauders (Single-A, Pittsburgh Pirates) on Monday, July 3rd ... First pitch is at 6:30 pm EST... You can purchase tickets for Threshers games at ThreshersBaseball.com/tickets or by calling 727-467-4457.