Bats Record Hot Start, Cool Off Late in Loss on Tuesday Night

LAKELAND, FL — The Lakeland Flying Tigers’ pitching staff retired the final 19 batters to end the contest to defeat the Bradenton Marauders 10-3 on Tuesday night at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Bradenton and Lakeland each exchanged leads in the early innings with Bradenton scoring right out of the gates in the first. Jhonny Severino doubled and then scored on an Ethan Lege single against Gabriel Reyes (2-2) to give Bradenton their first lead at 1-0.

Lakeland answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first. Zander Mueth (0-2) struck out the first batter before walking the next in Dom Johnson and Corey Joyce. Both scored on a double from Andrew Jenkins to push Lakeland in front 2-1.

The Marauders scored their final runs of the game in the second. Yordany De Los Santos doubled and Shalin Polanco walked to start the frame. Andrew Patrick doubled both runners home to make it 3-2 Marauders. In the bottom of the second, a balk from Mueth scored the tying run.

Lakeland recorded the final lead change in the third with a Nomar Fana sacrifice fly to right field after Mueth walked two and hit another to load the bases. Three of the four runs were earned against Mueth with the right-hander finishing with six strikeouts, the most this season by him in Single-A.

Both sides settled in after with Lakeland’s pitching staff retiring the final 19 from the third inning onward. The game stayed 4-3 Flying Tigers until the seventh when Lakeland sent nine batters to the plate and scored four on run-scoring hits from Jack Penney, Fana, and Archer Brookman. They added on two more in the seventh to complete the game’s scoring at 10-3.

Bradenton has now lost all seven games they’ve played in Lakeland this year.

The Marauders and Flying Tigers continue their series on Wednesday night at Joker Marchant Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 6:10 p.m. on the Marauders Broadcast Network.