Bradenton Rallies Late but Falls 9-6 in 11-Innings

BRADENTON, FL — In their first Monday game of the season at LECOM Park, the Bradenton Marauders overcame a four-run deficit before eventually falling 9-6 in 11-innings to the Fort Myers Mighty Mussels.

Fort Myers plated the game’s first run with a solo-home run from Daniel Pena in the second inning. Bradenton responded with a run of their own against Cesar Lares. Lares retired the first five batters to start the game before Javier Rivas doubled and scored on an Eddy Rodriguez single to tie the game at one.

In the fourth inning, Fort Myers hit for the natural cycle against Peyton Stumbo. The frame started with a single from Wixon Ringrove who then scored on a double from Poncho Ruiz. After a strikeout, Carlos Aguiar tripled home another run to extend the Fort Myers lead to 3-1. Nick Lucky capped off the inning with a two-run blast to close out the four-run frame.

After Axiel Plaz mashed a solo-home run in the fourth, Bradenton continued to chip away in the fifth against Jack Noble. Eddy Rodriguez walked, stole second base, and scored on a Braylon Bishop double to trim the deficit to 5-3.

The Mighty Mussels added one more in the seventh on an Isaac Pena before Bradenton erased a three-run deficit in the eighth. After Bishop walked and scored on an Omar Alfonzo double, Xander Hamilton (6-7) entered out of the bullpen to face Plaz who crushed his second home run of the day to tie the game at eight. Plaz joins Esmerlyn Valdez as the only other Marauder this year to collect a multi-home run game.

Bradenton had a chance in the ninth to win the game after Rodriguez and Juan Jerez collected back-to-back singles, but Hamilton retired the next two hitters in order to force extra-innings.

In the 10th, Hunter Furtado (2-2) hit a batter and walked another to load the bases with two outs. He struck out Carlos Aguiar to toss a scoreless frame to keep the game tied at six.

In the bottom half of the frame, Alfonzo was hit by a pitch and Keiner Delgado successfully put down a sacrifice bunt to place runners at second and third with one out. Hamilton intentionally walked Plaz before retiring the next two batters to force another extra frame.

In the 11th, an error brought home the extra-runner and Byron Chourio plated two runs with a single to extend the Fort Myers lead to 9-6. Samuel Perez (SV,2) retired the side in order to close out the game for Fort Myers.

The Marauders and Mighty Mussels continue their three-game series on Tuesday night at LECOM Park. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with pregame coverage beginning at 6:10 p.m. on the Marauders Broadcast Network.