Late Surge Powers Threshers Past Marauders 

WP: Dominic Pipkin (2-0, 6.75)

LP: Geronimo Franzua (1-1, 7.11)

SV: Daniel Harper (1)

BOX SCORE:

BRADENTON, FL – The Clearwater Threshers (47-22, 3-1) scored nine runs in the final four innings to overtake the Bradenton Marauders (38-31, 3-1) in an 8-5 win at LECOM Park on Wednesday night. The Threshers and Marauders continue their first six-game series of the second half on Thursday night.

Bradenton scored the first run of the game on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead. Shalin Polanco’s leadoff homer in the fourth gave the Marauders a 2-0 lead.

The Threshers drew two walks and a hit-by-pitch against Marauders reliever Yoldin De La Paz in the sixth inning before he was pulled in favor of Elijah Birdsong. William Bergolla came in and sent Birdsong’s first pitch to center, scoring Bryan Rincon on the sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 2-1. Ricardo Rosario launched a solo home run in the seventh to tie the game at two.

Otto Kemp started off the eighth with a double off Marauders reliever Geronimo Franzua. Bergolla’s single moved him to third. Felix Reyes grounded a ball back to the pitcher on the third base side of the mound. Franzua threw home to try and get Kemp but tossed wide of the bag, allowing Kemp to score and give the Threshers a 3-2 lead. Cade Fergus walked to load the bases and Emaarion Boyd was hit by a pitch to make it 4-2.

Darvin Garcia replaced Franzua out of the bullpen and walked Cade Fergus to load the bases. He threw a wild pitch to Justin Crawford to score Reyes from third before Crawford tripled to plate two more, giving the Threshers a 7-2 lead.

Bradenton responded with three runs in the eighth to cut the Threshers advantage to 7-5. Kemp was hit by a Miguel Fulgencio pitch to lead off the ninth and stole second base. Ryan Leitch and Bergolla drew back-to-back walks to load the bases. Rosario drove in his second run of the day with a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Kemp to put the Threshers up by three. The Marauders loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth, but with two outs in the inning, Daniel Harper struck out the final batter to secure an 8-5 win to open up the series for the Threshers.

Gabriel Cotto allowed two runs on four hits in 3.2 innings, striking out five and walking four in a no-decision. Danny Wilkinson struck out three batters in 1.1 scoreless and hitless frames. Noah Song struck out one in a 1-2-3 scoreless frame. Dominic Pipken (2-0) struck out one in 1.0 hitless and scoreless inning to earn the win. Wen-Hui Pan allowed three runs on three hits with one walk and two strikeouts in 1.0 inning. Harper earned the save in the final frame, allowing one hit and two walks with one strikeout in a scoreless ninth.

Harper’s save was his first of the year...Crawford extended his hit streak to 15 games with a first-inning single...It is the longest hit streak in the Florida State League this season...He also hit his sixth triple to move into a tie for third in the league...Kemp reached base all five times he came to the plate with one hit...Leitch came on as a defensive replacement for Dissin in the fourth... The Threshers continue their road series against the Bradenton Marauders (Single-A, Pittsburgh Pirates) on June 29th... First pitch is at 6:00 pm EST... You can purchase tickets for Threshers games at ThreshersBaseball.com/tickets or by calling 727-467-4457.