All Hail to the King: Valdez Mashes Two Longballs to Become FSL Home Run Leader

DAYTONA BEACH, FL — Esmerlyn Valdez and Jhonny Severio combined to club four home runs for the Bradenton Marauders as they down the Daytona Tortugas 8-6 on Wednesday night at Jackie Robinson Ballpark.

Bradenton led from start to finish and opened up the game’s scoring in the first. Keiner Delgado recorded a one-out single, stole second base, and scored on a two-run home run from Esmerlyn Valdez.

The Marauders added on three more in the second against Ben Brutti (2-4). After Johnny Severino crushed a leadoff home run, Andrew Patrick singled and stole his way around to third base. Carlos Caro walked and then Brutti balked in Patrick to make it 4-0 Marauders. The next batter, Will Taylor, singled in Caro from second base to close out the three-run second.

Daytona got on the board in the bottom of the second against Connor Wietgrefe. Ariel Almonte walked before the southpaw retired the next two batters. After a two-out error allowed Jack Moss to reach, two wild pitches and a balk led to a pair of unearned runs, which cut the Bradenton lead to 5-2. In his fourth start, Wietgrefe struck out four and allowed just one hit in a no-decision to lower his season ERA to 0.90.

Ethan Lege walked and then scored on a two-run home run from Severino to pad the Marauders lead to 7-2 in the third. Daytona then scored the game’s next four runs beginning in the bottom of the third. Luigi Hernandez entered out of the bullpen, allowing a single to Peyton Stovall before walking the next three men to bring home a run. Hernandez induced a double play ball with the bases loaded which plated another to trim the deficit again to 7-4.

In the fourth, Hung-Leng Chang (5-7) retired the first two batters before issuing a walk to Yerlin Confidan. After a pickoff attempt throwing error, Stovall singled Confidan in to cut the game to 7-5. After another error drove in a run in the fifth to make it 7-6 Marauders, Stovall led off the sixth with a triple. Peyton Stumbo (SV,5) retired the next three batters in order to leave the tying run at third.

Valdez immediately responded with a solo-home run to start the seventh to push the lead back to two. With a pair of home runs tonight, Valdez now leads the Florida State League with 21. It’s also his fourth multi-home run game of the season and owns four of the six hit by a Marauder in 2024. Severino and Axiel Plaz own the others.

Stumbo went on to retire the final seven batters of the game and struck out a career-high seven in a career-high four scoreless frames to close out Bradenton's first win this week.

The Marauders and Tortugas continue their series on Thursday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 6:15 p.m. on the Marauders Broadcast Network.