Marauders Drop Second-Straight on Wednesday Night in Lakeland

LAKELAND, FL — The Bradenton Marauders dropped their second-straight contest to the Lakeland Flying Tigers, falling 7-4 on Wednesday night at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium.

Bradenton’s offense started out hot again, plating runs in three of the first four innings. In the first, the first three batters reached with Duce Gourson recording a single, Will Taylor hit by a pitch and Keiner Delgado bouncing a ball through the left side to score Gourson and give Bradenton a 1-0 lead.

In the second, Enmanuel Terrero and Derek Berg walked before Gourson came through again with a double to extend the Bradenton lead to 2-0.

On the pitching side, Khristian Curtis retired the first six batters before issuing back-to-back walks in the third. On an attempted pickoff attempt to second base, Berg’s throw slipped into centerfield scoring the runner from second base in Ricardo Hurtado after the ball was bobbled in centerfield.

The Marauders got the run back in the fourth on a Esmerlyn Valdez two-out RBI single against Duque Hebbert (3-2) to pad the Bradenton lead again to 3-1 before the Flying Tigers tied the game in the bottom of the frame. Andrew Jenkins recorded Lakeland’s first hit, a broken bat single to right field before scoring on a two-out two-run home run from Jose De La Cruz to knot things up at three. Curtis allowed two earned runs on three hits while striking out three in 4.1 innings.

Lakeland took their first lead in the sixth against Noah Takacs (1-3). Nomar Fana led off with a double and moved to third on a groundout before scoring on a sacrifice fly from De La Cruz to make it 4-3 Lakeland.

The Flying Tigers added another in the seventh on a triple from Jack Penney to extend their lead to 5-3. In the eighth, Enmanuel Terrero tripled and then scored from a balk from Thomas Bruss to cut the deficit to 5-4 again. Bruss walked the final two batters he faced. Eiker Huizi (SV,9) entered and induced an inning-ending groundout to keep it a one-run game.

Lakeland put the game out of reach in the bottom of the eighth. Eduardo Valencia doubled and two of the next three batters walked to load the bases. On a groundball fielders choice to first, Valdez’s throw went wide of home to score two runs and the Flying Tigers opened their largest lead of the night at 7-4. Huizi retired the Marauders in order in the ninth to close out the game.

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

The Marauders and Flying Tigers continue their series on Thursday 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.