Perez, Ethridge Shine in Fort Myers’ 2-1 Victory over Bradenton
FORT MYERS, Fla. (June 2, 2024) - Fort Myers’ Samuel Perez and Ben Ethridge combined for eight scoreless innings as the Mighty Mussels defeated the Bradenton Marauders 2-1 at Hammond Stadium on Sunday afternoon. With a victory on Sunday, Fort Myers (24-27) took five out of six games from Bradenton
Left-hander Samuel Perez getting it done on the mound today - 5️⃣ Ks through 4️⃣ shut-out innings💪😮💨
— Fort Myers Mighty Mussels (@MightyMussels) June 2, 2024
Bot 4 | Mussels 2, Marauders 0 pic.twitter.com/3BeE6tGGz3
FORT MYERS, Fla. (June 2, 2024) - Fort Myers’ Samuel Perez and Ben Ethridge combined for eight scoreless innings as the Mighty Mussels defeated the Bradenton Marauders 2-1 at Hammond Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
With a victory on Sunday, Fort Myers (24-27) took five out of six games from Bradenton (21-30) on the homestand, outscoring the Marauders 29-11.
Perez got the start for Fort Myers and tossed a season-high four scoreless innings, allowing just a single base hit and issuing one walk while striking out four Bradenton batters. Perez lowered his season ERA to 2.56 and now has 39 strikeouts across 31.2 innings in 2024. This was the first start for the left hander since July 23, 2023 in Bradenton.
Payton Eeles singled to start the second inning and came around to score the first run of the game on a sacrifice fly by Yohander Martinez to make it 1-0 in favor of the Mussels.
In the bottom of the third inning, Brooks Lee doubled down the right field line with one out to bring up Jair Camargo, who was playing in his first game of his rehab assignment with the Mighty Mussels. Camargo singled through the left side of the infield, putting men at first and third. Poncho Ruiz followed Camargo and picked up an RBI groundout to extend the lead to 2-0.
The game remained scoreless through the next five innings, as Ben Ethridge was first out of the bullpen for the Mighty Mussels. Ethridge was rock solid, posting four scoreless innings, allowing one hit and striking out two.
Aaron Holiday came on for the ninth inning and struck out the first batter he faced. The next batter was Axiel Plaz, who reached on an error by first baseman Gregory Duran. Holiday got a pop up for the second out of the inning but then ran into trouble. He allowed a two-out RBI double to Esmerlyn Valdez that put the tying run in scoring position. After an error by Martinez at third base and a walk to Javier Rivas, Holiday was replaced by Jack Noble, who was tasked with getting the final out of the day. Noble struck out Wesley Zapata to leave the bases loaded and end the game.
The Mussels will have Monday off and return to the diamond on Tuesday in Tampa to take on the Tarpons at 6:30 p.m. Coverage begins at 6:15 p.m. on the Mighty Mussels Baseball Network.